Taking photos in the rain

Picture this. You've planned a day to get out and about to do some photography but you wake up that morning to a dreary rainy day.

It's not the weather you typically hope for, but don't let it dampen your spirits. We've got some great tips to help you get some stunning shots even when it's miserable outside...

Cover up your camera

There are about a million rain covers for camera gear on the market. The real problem is having it with you when it starts to rain. Carry camera rain gear in your bag that won’t take up too much space.

To keep it cheap, try out a gallon-size plastic bag. In a pinch, it will do a passable job of keeping a camera dry. Punch a hole in one end to poke the lens through and stick your hand in the other end.

Look for porches and awnings

Park under a dry spot and wait for the pictures to come to you. Just be patient.

Shoot from inside a car

This is often the best course of action, and sometimes it's the only practical answer. You can often roll down the window and stay pretty dry, especially if the wind is at your back (coming from the other side of the car).

Buy an umbrella

Carry a small folding umbrella with you. It would be helpful to have a trusty assistant (or patient friend/relative) to carry the umbrella, but if not you can still do a lot of work just holding the umbrella in the hand that also grips the camera. A little awkward, but it has the advantage of keeping the umbrella right over the camera. Remember: Don't use umbrellas in thunderstorms!

Include the umbrella in your picture

Actually, your own umbrella can work well to compose/frame a shot. Bring it down into the top of the picture when you are shooting with a wide angle and it nicely fills the upper part of the frame, providing a nice visual cue that it is, in fact, raining. If the streets are full of people under umbrellas, yours fits in with the crowd. But also if the clouds are bright and the scene below is dark, use the umbrella to cover up the too-bright clouds and your scene can suddenly look much better exposed.

Watch for reflections

Unless you are in a downpour, it is difficult to actually see the rain itself. So you have to leave visual clues that it is raining. Look for ways that the rain transforms the ordinary into the extraodinary. 

Shoot towards the light

Rain becomes more visible when it is backlit. The light coming through the raindrops is concentrated and slightly brighter than the rest of the scene. So find some light sources and shoot toward it. This could be a streetlight at night, or it could be the sun breaking though the clouds. Whatever the case, the rules are the same. One, the more directly you shoot into the light, the better you can see the raindrops. Two, shoot too directly and the light source will overpower your exposure. So always seek that magic angle in between.

Use a little flash

Your flash will light up the raindrops, usually a bad thing because it will pump out way too much light as it tries to light up your subject. You don’t want that. But if your camera allows you to, turn the flash down (to -3.0 stops for example) and it will add just a little pop to the raindrops. This technique is tricky; you’ll have to experiment. Maybe it won’t work at all, but if it does, it can be quite magical. (Also works on snowflakes sometimes).

Be on the lookout for joy or misery

Rain transforms people. We react to rain with a gamut of emotions, from rain-drenched commuters to the wondrous joy of children. Capture those emotions and you’ll have a great rain picture.

Source: Jim Richardson, National Geographic