Rain
June 24th, 2009 Rob Sheppard
I am in New England right now visiting family, then I am going to be at a NANPA Road Show outside of Providence, RI, this weekend. It is raining. And from what I have learned, it has been raining for a while. No, there is no petrified wood in New England, but the photo here is a sample of rain photography that is worth talking about.
Recently I had a student in one of my BetterPhoto.com classes say that they could not complete an assignment because it was raining. Now I admit that it can be challenging to photograph in the rain, but not impossible. Sometimes the rain can even be part of the photography. It is really hard for me to be in a beautiful location and not photograph, rain, shine, whatever.
I was driving through Northern Arizona earlier this year and I wanted to photograph at the Petrified Forest National Park. That is a really cool location with all of this “wood” scattered across the landscape. But I was truly “driving through” and had part of one morning to photograph there, no more. A storm had come through and it was very wet.
As I drove and saw the gray clouds, I debated not stopping at all. But I really wanted to visit this interesting place, so I kept on course. I enjoy being in unusual landscapes even if I can’t get the best photos. Yet, the day was really gray and not promising.
I got to the park and took a few photos of some shifting fog in part of the area, but it wasn’t all that exciting photographically. Then I remembered my flash (this is true, even though I have a flash with me at all times, I sometimes forget I have it!). I started shooting by underexposing the scene for the existing light and giving proper exposure for the flash. This is very easy to do with manual exposure. Simply set an exposure that is dark for the scene without flash, then use the flash normally. The flash exposure system will give a correct exposure for the flash, while the camera will underexpose the natural light.
This often results in a dramatic, interesting light in the photo, especially when the flash is used off camera (I usually use a cord for this as it is more reliable than wireless when outside). And it was true here. I had fun playing with the flash and the natural light exposure, changing my shutter speed to change the background brightness, while the petrified wood in the foreground stayed the same brightness from the flash (which is keyed to the f-stop for exposure).
I will probably try some flash photos while I am here in Maine. Or maybe something else. Regardless, I will come hope with some photos of nature, rain or not. I am not much worried about light rain and my Olympus E-3 as it is a professional level camera with excellent seals against light rain. I will use my flash in light rain, too, just keeping it in my jacket until it is ready to use.
But even heavier rain won’t keep me from photographing (and the rain has not always been light here). I always keep a cover for the camera and lens that I can put over the gear as needed, plus I have a small umbrella that is perfect to keep over head as I work the camera on a tripod. For covers, I find the shower caps from a hotel work great for most cameras. I also have an OpTech rain sleeve to go over camera and larger lens as needed.
