Project 50: Rain

This project has been somewhat long in the taking! I have found opportunities to get out in the rain difficult to manage, however we have had some good rain in the last few weeks (Scottish Summer and all), and I have actually taken the camera out with me. I have found it surprisingly rewarding taking photos in the rain. Everything feels fresh and new and the colours are vibrant and exciting. Even my photo of a discarded desk next to a bin is more exciting than it would have been in bland sunshine or cloud. The presence of water around seems to be very cleansing. I also very much enjoyed seeing the water droplets on the foliage of plants when I was out and about. While I have noticed this before, having my camera in my hand while out walking made me notice them _much_ more than I ever have before. One of my first interests in photography was macro photos of flowers (something I have not pursued in years!) and I never used rain to my advantage - it really makes flowers and plants look beautiful!

I have included one photo taken on holiday in Venice last year as I like the effect of a city scene doused in water - in this case the lights reflecting are particularly effective.

I am a little frustrated that I didn't push to finish this particular project earlier, though I did have the challenge of the fact we had masses of snow in winter and not much rain. I feel like since I have finished it now I feel more confident taking photos in inclement weather and that the results are going to be pleasing. Perhaps I just needed the time to realise this anyway. However, here are the photos that I have produced.

Photo 1. Venice, a rainy evening in the square.

From Project_50

35mm, f/11, 4s, ISO200, tripod

Photo 2. Abandoned desk next to rubbish bin. I quite like the quirky factor in this shot.

From Project_50

50mm, f/4, 1/250s, ISO500

Photo 3. Chair and leaves. A simple photo which is made a bit stronger by the bold colours which are brought out by the rain.

From Project_50

50mm, f/4, 1/180s, ISO200, -1/2EV to saturate colour

Photo 4. Yellow flower. Shallow DOF in this case makes the yellow flower punchy. I tried another photo with -1/2EV but I found I preferred the colour in this photo.

From Project_50

50mm, f/1.8, 1/1000s, ISO200

Photo 5. White flowers. In this photo the presence of rain is not obvious, but I felt like the colours and background were influenced by the rain, and the same shot in strong sunlight would have not worked as well.

From Project_50

68mm, f/2.8, 1/1500s, ISO500

Photo 6. Pink flower. I tried to slightly increase the DOF in this photo to have more of the flower in focus. In retrospect use of a tripod would have been better here and in that situation I could have increased the DOF more, though the flowers were moving around in the wind that accompanied the rain.

From Project_50

64mm, f/5.6 1/250s, ISO500, -1/2EV to saturate colour



In retrospect, I probably didn't need the ISO as high as I pushed it, as by using large apertures I could easily handhold at the shutter speeds selected by the camera. However I have found low light levels to be a problem before in the rain, which is why I set the camera up this way. The rain got heavier and heavier while I was out, so I didn't play with my settings very much!!