What to do on a rainy day?

[timphotos]

Just picked up my 60d, an upgrade from my 30d. Now I'm ready to go out and take some landscape photos, BUT it's raining! 10 day forecast is all rain. Now what? Any thoughts, photos or ideas on what I should try?

 

[chuasam]

Go out and shoot in the rain.

 

[timphotos]

Go out and shoot in the rain.

Good point, any unique ideas or photos you can share? Was thinking of taking some shots of car traffic during the evening getting some reflection from the wet street - but not sure how interting those will turn out. Dunno, but many things I normally shoot are not desirable in the rain and clouds. So, thought I'd ask for some tips.

 

[Majeed Badizadegan]

Bring an umbrella

 

[KenC]

Go out and shoot in the rain.

Good point, any unique ideas or photos you can share? Was thinking of taking some shots of car traffic during the evening getting some reflection from the wet street - but not sure how interting those will turn out. Dunno, but many things I normally shoot are not desirable in the rain and clouds. So, thought I'd ask for some tips.

I too like street shots with wet pavement. The colors are good in the overcast as well.

You could also do some still life in the house. The window light is good on a rainy day.

 

[MReid]

Drive around and take pictures out the window (rolled down) or all the suggestions above.

 

[Joey_Ricard]

You can practice and make a new avatar image!

 

[480sparky]

Make duplicates of your favorite images. Load them into your PP software. Then play around with all the buttons & sliders to find out what's really under the hood.

 

[Village Idiot]

Rain + strobes = BA.

 

[chuasam]

Yup, puddle reflections are always fun. Beware being too cliche with that though but it's still fun nevertheless.
Now if you can get a guy to jump over the puddle...

taadaaa!

 

[Bossy]

^ love that image. Although its more like jumping into a puddle

 

[sm4him]

Just picked up my 60d, an upgrade from my 30d. Now I'm ready to go out and take some landscape photos, BUT it's raining! 10 day forecast is all rain. Now what? Any thoughts, photos or ideas on what I should try?

Move somewhere sunnier??

I had some relatives from Oregon that were here one spring, and were helping to till up my grandmother's garden. She looked and saw them working in the rain, and told them to come inside. Dwayne looked at my grandmother and said, "Ma,am, where I'm from, if you don't work in the rain, you DON'T work."

Find your opportunities. If the rain lets up, or at least lightens up, be prepared. Go for a drive and find a good spot where you can just get out of the car, snap off a few shots, and get back out of the rain. Or go somewhere indoors that would be interesting. Do you have any covered farmer's market kind of places? Or street fairs? Any nature centers--a lot of times, if it's not raining TOO hard, I can go to the nature center near me and wander down one of the trails, and the thick tree cover keeps most of the rain away, so I don't get soaked. I keep my camera in my all-weather bag until I'm ready to use it.

Or--just stand out in the rain. That's what I did this morning. In the sleet/rain mix. Just stood there, desperate to try some new bird shots. Alas, the birds had more sense than I, and were huddled up somewhere staying warm and dry, and out of sight of cameras. At least for me, there's not a 10-day rain forecast ahead...after freezing rain this morning, tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny and almost 60 F here!

 

[480sparky]

Post a Whatsit? !!

 

[Big Mike]

A wet scene is often very different than a dry scene, so take advantage of the rainy days. Also, you'll usually have cloudy, overcast skies, which gives you very soft light and it also compresses the dynamic range of the scene. So rather than having to choose between exposing for the highlights or the shadows, on a rain/overcast day, you are much more likely to fit the scene's range into one exposure.

And while grey skies can tend to dull colors, you can use that to your advantage to isolate what bright colors do remain.

And of course, landscape photos would get boring if they all had clear blue skies. So get out there and capture some dramatic skies if you can.

Kananaskis Landscapes ~ Mike Hodson Photography

 

[Forkie]

Rain makes puddles, splashes, streaks on the window, raindrops on glass turn things upside down, it makes things shiny, dark, rainbows..................................