Cloud Photography at Night

Monday, 14 November 2011

Cloud Photography at Night

I am currently working on photographing different weather events at different times of night.  Stuff that most people won't try or figure is impossible.  Lately I have been working on settings that allow me to freeze a cloud at night with as little digital noise as possible.  Last night was a real test for my Canon 5D MKII.  The clouds last night were moving from Southwest to Northeast approximately 70km/h.  Most the cloud had been small cumulus when I noticed some spotty showers had developed on radar infront of the cold front.  I went out and looked to my southwest where I saw a developing cumulus cloud. I quickly went to my night-time settings and was able to freeze the cloud while keeping the digital noise respectable.  I am looking forward to another night when the clouds are moving slower with an even fuller moon because that will allow me to use lower ISO numbers and hopefully lead to a better quality shot at the end. This will be an ongoing project of mine. I still believe I can get the quality that much better. In this photograph above there was also a pileus cloud on the right side of the cumulus where it is fuzzy.  Unfortunately, by the time I got everything lined up and focused most the cumulus had broken through the pileus.  So it is very fragmented but was there.

Late Season Autumn Colours

One of the things I enjoy the most about the challenges of doing photography when fall colours are close to coming to an end is looking for small isolated areas of colour. This photo was taken on my street where most the domestic maple trees still have their leaves. Whereas, most the wild trees in the area don't have much of anything left on them. Photo was taken on November 8, 2011. 

I had been watching a weather system move in and seen in the forecast that they were predicting fog. I new that would add a whole other element to the photograph. I had taken this same seen with beautiful sunshine on it. The photographs turned out beautifully but I felt it lacked the technical difficulty I was looking for. Something different! Finally the fog rolled in and I had what I wanted.  I had the late season fall colours, fog and even some bonus shadow crespular rays. All giving this image a dynamic that really made me happy when I was finished.  My favourite thing to do is combine weather phenomena.  For example in 2003 I photographed lightning and northern lights in full moonlight all at the same time.  I just wish I had a camera like I do today.  That was 15 megapixels ago and not to mention how much more my compositions have improved.  I am not sure what I will release this photo at but I don't think it will be anything smaller then 20"X30" because of the fact it is such a welcoming seen.  It makes you feel like you can just walk right down the sidewalk. 

"Autumn Colours Getting Close to Peak in Niagara"

The autumn colours seem to be really getting close to the peak here in the Niagara region.  I did some preliminary planning last week with the camera.  Checking to see how far along the colours were.  When I live in an area, one of the things I like to do is a preliminary planned route of photography before the big day arrives for the peak of the fall colours.  That way I know exactly where to be when the right weather conditions arrive.  This is an example of one of my "Planning" shots.  I figure sometime between October 17th, 2011 to October 22nd, 2011 this location will reach its peak.  The only concern I have is that we just had some very strong winds in Ontario, some regions had winds recorded over 90km/h.  Sometimes my "planning" shots become the best shot due to weather conditions not working out.

This photo was taken between Jordan and Vineland, Ontario, Canada

What to Expect on my blog!

I have a professional photographer named David T. Chapman.  I have been selling photography for over 10 years now since the young age of 16. I love to photograph lightning, funnel clouds/tornadoes, Birds of all sizes and shapes and of course nature.  I am open to any challenge in photography and continue to build up an impressive library of photographs of various different subjects. 

On my blog I will share stories of my adventures, some funny, some serious.  I will also talk about where I found some of these things.  Advice on how to attract birds to your yard.  Anything that I think will interests you will be posted on here.  I also encourage you to share stories with me.  If you have something interesting or fun to share, feel free to send an email to naturebirdsandweather@gmail.com

One of my favourite backyard songbirds is the Northern Cardinal and this fellow didn't disapoint by placing himself in a Magnolia tree.  I waited 1.5 hours for this shot. 

This is my former art gallery in Almonte, Ontario, Canada.  All those framed photo's on the wall there are mine.  At one point in the gallery I had 150 framed pieces.  I print on fine art paper as well as Canvas. 

My fiance and I were heading to Pembroke when she saw this one sitting in a tree to the left.  We turned around and placed ourselves in the best angle for light we could.  I would have loved for the sun to have been on the other side but I still put it to the best settings I could at the time and fired this action shot. 

This is of a wild fox kit that I took pictures of.  I worked 8 days with them to gain there trust(no baiting) just by being around the den and eventually had one try to sniff my foot.  I will doing an blog on this story a little later.


This is just a microscopic view of some of the samples of my work and a bit into my past.  I hope you enjoy this and I look forward to writing more detailed ones after this.