Enhance Stormy Atmosphere With This One Tip

Stormy and atmospheric weather conditions are expected during the late fall through upcoming winter seasons. Although, of course, the common draw for many photographers is that beautiful colourful light at sunrise and sunset, it's a favourite for me too. Still, there's something moving about the power within a storm, and this type of weather has certainly earned a bold place in my landscape photography.

However, atmospheric drama isn't always easy to showcase within an image. Often the lack of dynamic light can result in the drama within a storm-filled scene falling flat. Thankfully there are many techniques available to the landscape photographer to enhance stormy weather atmosphere.

One of these techniques involves the landscape photographer's approach to white balance. Stormy weather atmosphere within a landscape scene can be easily enhanced by using a cooler white balance. Cooler white balance can be achieved in-camera by using a preset or cooler Kelvin white balance setting or during post-processing through specific colour editing aimed at the overall reduction in the white balance temperature of the image. 

^{ISO 400, 16.5mm, f10, 1/6 sec} 

Reducing the overall warmth via white balance adjustment in a landscape scene will enhance that cold stormy feeling which will contribute to the overall atmosphere within this type of landscape scene. 

Next time you are immersed in a stormy landscape scene don't be afraid to experiment a little with white balance as this simple technique can infuse a lot of atmosphere and thus enhance the overall success of a stormy landscape image.