What are your favorite weather conditions for photography?

For this week, we've stormed the idea room for an interesting new topic, and whether or not you can weather this latest idea, we thought that weather would be a great theme as we enter late spring and early summer. There's your pun and tongue twister phrase of the week as well .

So, with that said...

What are your favorite weather conditions for photography?​

Let us know what wild weather events you love to shoot along with a brief story about one in a reply below, and feel free to include a photo or image of the action. Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be adverse weather events, that's not the theme here on its own. It can be everything from a nasty tornado to a beautiful snowfall along a mountainside. We’ll be selecting some responses to feature on the DPReview.com homepage next week!

Rain at night in a city can be particularly photogenic, as I found out when visiting Japan beginning of July 2024, at the end of 'Tsuyu', the local summer rain season. It is not necessarily confortable when it comes to equipment handling and protection (rain, very high humidity and temperature).

Any weather condition (that is not life threatening).

Depends on the subject and mood I'm going for. I enjoy visiting the same locations in different weather conditions and seeing how they change.

Clear skies and harsh sunlight can be great for creating striking contrast and strong lines. When filtered through a tree canopy in the woods, sunlight becomes a very nicely diffused light tinted with the green color from the translucent leaves. Rainy days (and especially nights, in the city) provide plenty of opportunities for interesting reflections and colors. Overcast days have soft, even lighting that can be great for showing details in architecture.

I grew up in Wisconsin and we have quite a range of weather, even day to day at times. Excellent for weather photography!

Beautiful!

The days of extreme cold and seeing the frost on the windows from the warmth of inside, with a good coffee.

As hair-raising and blood curdling chasing tornados was in my newspaper days, especially the one that went directly over my house, I have a different favorite that is possibly as opposite as you get.

Fog is my favorite weather condition to shoot in, as hard as it can be at times to get into a position to use it well.

noegd,

Agree on rain and cityscapes.

I took this on an off and on rainy night in San Francisco.

In Dashiell Hammett's novel 'The Maltese Falcon' John's Grill is Sam Spade's water hole. I converted the image to black and white to get the film noir look. The taxi cab at the curb was a lucky feature. I was fortunate that the front of the restaurant was clear of people for an obstructed view, including the wet surfaces.

I used a waterproof camera, so ideal for the purpose. I do my own printing. This is now an 11X14" on my wall. I have family members and friends who are film noir and 'Maltese Falcon' fans, so it is also on a lot of other walls.

Any weather is workable, but skies with interesting clouds are fun!

Sometimes, one can make oneself immune to the weather condition.

The clouds alone could be interesting...

I am seldom out, with a camera (the key) in dramatic weather. Locally that means snow and the removal issues.

My general overall preference (but with exceptions) is the sun low in the sky coming in over my right shoulder. Since the sun may be close to setting, this can be of short duration. Whichever camera I am using needs to be pre-set as close as possible to what the scene will dictate. I have no interest in bokeh. I am after maximum depth of field.