A lot of photographers are scared to shoot in the rain, it’s understandable, but there are a lot of rain photography tips to help you not only take better photos but tell more evoking stories.
Rain photography is a great way to tell a story in a more interesting way, whether that’s street photography, portrait photography, landscape photography or product photography.
When it comes to rain photography there’s so many different types of textures, compositions and reflections to play and experiment with.
In this article, I’ll be explaining 5 different rain photography tips you can take advantage of in the cold and gloomy weather and take amazing rain photography.
Puddles are a unique and different way to alter the perception and story you’re trying to tell your viewers.
In the midst of winter there is not shortage of puddles.
The best thing about puddle reflections which you cant get with alot if different styles of photography is that you get to show two different sides of the same scene.
These are rarely perfect, as the puddles break up that reflected world. But this makes them even more interesting.
Walk around and find puddles that will help set your scene and tell your story.
Get down low, move around altering your positioning and frame and fire off the shutter.
To add more depth, texture and mystery to your photos wait for people to pass on through your frame or if you’re with a friend get them to stand within the frame or pass through it.
When you think of Cityscapes you think of a perfect skyline. But you don’t always need the usual cityscape composition.
Use rain to your advantage and show a different side of your city.
By using a rain covered window or plastic panel, you can show the city in a more moody and intriguing way.
Switch your lens to manual focus so you have complete control of the focus on the rain drops and the focus and depth of your cityscape in contrast to your raindrops in the foreground.
Once you have your focus where you want it, capture it.
Like with puddle reflections, move around, change your positioning and capture your cityscape from multiple angles.
This is a great way to show your city through shape, colour and textures.
My next rain photography tip is Bokeh, probably a photographers favourite effect.
Nothing shouts different and abstract more than bokeh combined with rain photography. We kind of know what we’re looking at, but not really, it gets viewers to stop and think a little and that’s it’s power.
I find the best combination is photographing traffic lights through the raindrops on your car window or glass panel.
You have so much creative freedom. By keeping your lens on manual focus see what interesting shapes you can come up with.
You can place the focus anywhere you want, it doesn’t matter, there’s no right or wrong here.
By using a wide aperture, you allow a bokeh of light in the background. This blends nicely with your raindrops in the foreground
This rain photography tip has to be the most fun but also the most risky at the same time.
Risky in the sense that you could get VERY wet.
You want to find a puddle where cars will be passing through it and find a suitable frame to shoot.
Set your camera to a high shutter speed, something around 1/500, depending on how gloomy it is crank up your ISO and set your aperture.
When cars pass through the puddle you’re shooting at hold down the shutter and capture as many frames as possible.
If cars passing through puddles isn’t your thing, then you can get a friend to jump into one if they’re willing to get a little wet.
Remember to hold your shutter down and capture as many frames as possible.
Freezing the rain as it falls is another rain photography hack that’s perfect in adding mood and texture to a photo to tell a story.
Rain often appears as slight blurs in the shot.
These dashes of light and texture complement your main subject.
Experiment with changing your shutter speed to capture the rain falling in different forms and shapes.
Setting your camera to have a long shutter speed allows you to create motion blur with the rain.
By using a faster shutter speed, you are able to freeze the raindrop movement.
Falling water looks very similar to glass, it has a defined shape and form that pops.
And that’s it, these are my 5 rain photography tips that you can use.
So next time there’s a downpour, don’t hide away indoors with your camera just sitting on your shelf. Don’t use the rain as an excuse, grab your camera and get out into the storm and have some fun.
It’s just a bit of water!
Which reminds me, a little bit of technical safety, don’t forget to keep your camera as dry as possible.
Bring a lens hood if you have one, a rain cover for your camera gear and camera bag (nothing fancy, a plastic bag works a charm!) and a good storm jacket to keep yourself nice and dry…. Well as much as possible.
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