One of the most important considerations whether you are shooting on a camcorder or taking photos with your digital camera, should be the weather conditions especially if you are planning to take a holiday.
If you are simply taking holiday snapshots weather fluctuations may not be that disturbing, but imagine how annoying it would be if you had gathered a whole crew and actors to shoot a short film set in the winter and it ended up being a warm bright day. In big budget films weather conditions may end up costing the production millions of pounds.
Instead of waiting for the right type of weather, you can produce it yourself and you don’t need to be a professional to do so. Evidently, it is easier to make conditions look worse than better so below, we provide you with some simple tips as to how to achieve that.
Canon cameras can be good for weather condition shots and you may want to consider the Canon eos, the Canon ixus or the Canon Powershot.
Snow and fog
Place your camera or camcorder in a position where there is very little depth of field and where it only captures a small part of the background (the larger the area the more snow you will have to create). Spread polyester over the ground and turn on a fan, to make the snow/fog move around and look more realistic. Beware of the details: for instance trees have no leaves or blossom during the winter so don’t shoot in a forest in spring. The sky during a snowfall should be white and not bright blue so avoid revealing too much of it
Wind
Another effect you may wish to create is wind. A fan in front of the actor may make their hair fly around and the leaves in the background rustle. You must also bear in mind that light clothes and material respond better to air thus accentuating the effect. Again, opt for a Close Up or a Medium Shot to avoid exposing areas of the image the fan doesn’t reach. A shot or photo where the subject seems windswept while the background is calm and peaceful would look ridiculous.
Rain
Creating rain is easy as all you need is a hose. What you need to take care of here is to ensure that the water is coming from above the frame and that it covers all the frame, otherwise you will end up with areas of the image where it rains and areas where it doesn’t. Also make sure that you have wet the ground, the actors and any surrounding subjects (people, trees, cars etc) in advance so that they don’t look dry.
