Rain Photos. The sun hasn't come out! It's raining, it's pouring...

Bad weather doesn't mean bad photographic opportunities -- there's no need to leave your camera at home. Just read Chris' instructions below, pack your equipment, and shoot, believing that a rainy day can bring some interesting surprises.

A big "Thank you" to Christopher Scholl who found time to share his "rainy" thoughts with us, and a "special thank you" for the idea to move to Washington, D.C. where rain never stops!

By the way, if you have not found Chris' blog yet - don't postpone your visit there.

I promise - after reading a couple of entries, you will add PHOTOGRAPHER’S JOURNEY to your favorites!
Chris loves doing photography, he loves talking about photography.

Incidentally, there is always a "sunny mood" in his blog!

Rainy days and Mondays always get me excited. Well, okay, maybe just rainy days.
Rain can be a wonderful gift for a photographer looking to make moody images. But rain photos are also logistically tricky. Here are a few ideas to help make the most out of a rainy situation:

1. Consider shooting from inside your car. That's how the image above was made. I shot it with a 70-200mm lens from a parked car with the rain drops settled right on the windshield.


The catch? I softened the focus somewhat to achieve the effect I wanted.
Remember: if you shoot through rain-covered glass, focus is optional.

2. Protect your camera. It goes without saying, but be careful. Seldom is one shot worth the price of your favorite camera and lens!

3. Use a dark umbrella. Lighter umbrellas can reflect unwanted light into a scene.

4. Slow your shutter speed. Rain moves fast! You can, at times, achieve the right motion-blur for rain while shooting even as fast as 1/60th of a second.

5. Try a reflector. Back-lighting rain drops as they fall can add a lot of impact to an image. By using a reflector rather than a flash, you can preserve the motion-blur. This can add just the right touch of light to a scene, although it obviously doesn't work for larger scenes.

6. Consider black and white. Rain, by its very nature, can be very moody. Shooting in black and white can heighten the mood.

7. Look for reflections. If there is one thing water does well, it reflects light. The resulting puddles in a rainy scene can offer some dramatic compositions.

8. Seek out color. The great thing about rain - and this is particularly true in lands

cape photography - is how richly it saturates the land with color. Strong colors with vivid contrasts can be especially powerful in a rainy scene.

9. Use a polarizer. You may not want to do this if you are concentrating on a reflection, but a polarizing filter can greatly reduce the amount of reflectivity in a scene. This can further enhance colors and eliminate distracting reflections in a scene. Oh - and a common misconception: Yes, polarizing filters are just as useful on digital cameras as they were on film cameras. While it';s true that post-production software like Photoshop can help color saturation in an image, no amount of digital image editing can rid an image of reflected light spanning through an image.

10. Use a fast lens. Shooting in rain automatically means shooting under clouds - and clouds make it darker (I know, I know, I'm incredibly insightful). A lens with a wider maximum aperture will give you a lot more flexibility in shooting. This does not mean it's always preferable to shoot at the maximum aperture - but with the right lens, you will at least have more options.

Bonus tip: move to Washington, D.C. Sometimes I think it never stops raining here!

by Christopher Scholl