Simple Photography Tips - nurturing your creativity on Rainy Days
- Michael Blyth
- Jun 6
- 3 min read
Eight simple photography tips on what to do ona rainy day - Camera and Phone Camera
Be prepared to work in macro setting
go gently to avoid knocking off the raindrop you're trying to catch
Take the right clothing
Take a flask - Tea or ..........
Look, and look, and you will see opportunites
Try to avoid post-adjustment
Relax, and have fun
Sing and dance in the rain
So, after so much dry weather, it was raining quite heavily this morning, great for farmers, and cow's that are allowed on pasture.
Also an ideal time for me to get out and take some images to inspire you with simple photography tips for what to do when you're out for a walk in the rain.
Slight problem was that I was supposed to be meeting Favourite Eldest Daughter on flight in from the Balearic's.
So these images were taken in our drive, and on the drive to the airport.
Let's have a chat through.
Image One, and the next two, are of that wonderful herbaceous plant, alchemilla mollis, which although native to Southern Europe, is grown throughout the world, as an ornamental plant. So relevant wherever in the world you live!
Despite having green flowers, they are very architectural, and it has the most wonderful scalloped and serrated palmate leaves - so much character in one leaf, add raindrops, and wow.
I discovered this morning that there actually very few plants whose leaves hang onto raindrops, most simply slide off. Alchemilla however becomes covered with glistening orbs.
The flower itself, being very hairy, hangs onto the droplets, until so many accumulate, that the weight overcomes the surface tension and they fall off.
Image Two shows how the joint with the leaf stem forms a small pool of water. A close-up image like this is very artistic, with the droplets adding sparkle as they collect the light and refract it.
Placing the stem joint on a vertical third adds balance to the picture. Give it a try!
Image Three shows what you get by choosing a leaf that hangs less steeply, the droplets get bigger before they all rush off.
Hairy-leaved plants are all worth spending time photographing on a rainy day, or a dewy morning.
Image Four includes a stem of grass, where there is an equally interesting capturing of the raindrops.
I've placed the stem just shy of a third, and allowed the serrated edge of the leaves behind to add texture and form.
Image Five - Foxglove flowers are beautiful at any point, but with the non-sheltered part clinging on to tghe rain adds a beauty.
Because of the form the flower stem takes, it is very difficult to isolate one flower from the one behind. If you're desperate you could remove it, and wait for the drops to build up again, while you're getting wet.
Image Six. Despite the rain, there was a bumble bee busy seeking sustenance from the flower. It dived into a nearby flower and I waited for it to turn and head out before capturing the image. It's always worth standing and looking to see what extras there are on days like this.
Image Seven. Driving to the airport, and with a few minutes to hand, I was looking for a suitable puddle, and then saw it. Raindrops are very challenging because the only predictable thing is that they come from the sky, and will land somewhere sometime!
But they do form beautiful patterns and it is well worth persevering. Especially if you can find somewhere to shelter!!
In this image I noticed the lichen covered stick, so angled the camera to take advantage of it, and the light/dark areas.
Image Eight, There is quite a bit to discuss about this image. A simple photographic tip is to crouch down, looking towards the source of light, and having partial tree cover, enables the placing of light and dark, into which the raindrops land.
It would have been interesting to get the circles in the foreground in focus, but since I had no raingear i was grabbing shots to illustrate - positives and negatives.
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