On 20 August 2009 I was driving westward, from Ajax back to Oakville, and around Vaughan I noticed the sky was getting increasingly unusual.
Churning skies…
Dark on top, light below. Dark, with light shining through. Green, then orange glow; very nasty. This was around 8pm.
It was no surprise to me that this was the night of the Vaughan tornadoes. I must have driven right by them.
Tips for this kind of weather:
- Always carry your camera. I suppose for legal reasons, before some of you protest, I should say that you should not shoot from the car while driving. Regardless: carry your camera.
- Use exposure compensation when needed to ensure the dark sky shows up as, well, a dark sky. Usually, a value around -1 stop will do this.
- Set the white balance to an appropriate value.
- Use a wide angle lens.
The wide angle lens makes it easy to show the screen in its perspective, but it also has practical benefits: (a) you get wider depth of field, and (b) you can shoot at slow shutter speeds without blurring your images.
If you always carry your camera, you will be able to document your life, and that of those around you.No camera = no images.
