64
B+W
VENICE, ITALY
Rain is usually a photographer’s worst enemy,
but it can also be your friend. I love shooting
urban locations at night after rain, when wet
surfaces reflect man-made illumination to
create contrasty studies in light and shadow.
Lubitel 6x6cm camera with 80mm lens, Ilford XP2
Super film, 2secs at f/16, ISO 400The easiest way to capture the effect
of falling rain is by shooting into the sun
and against a dark background, so the
raindrops are backlit, and using a shutter
speed of 1/30sec or slower so the droplets
record as glistening streaks.
The same applies if you want to
photograph your kids soaking each other
with a garden hose, or to add interest to
plant and flower portraits – with the latter
you can set up your props so they’re against
a dark, shady background, wait for the sun
to come out, then use a watering can to
mimic rainfall and shoot towards the sun.
If the sun refuses to make an appearance
you can capture rain in other ways –
splashing in puddles, dancing on the
surface of rivers and lakes, or dripping off
plants and trees. Wet streets after rain also
make great mono subjects and if you shoot
at night there will be lots of reflections in the
wet surfaces to add contrast to your shots.8 PHOTOGRAPHING RAIN
FROM HOLY ISLAND, NORTHUMBERLAND
Water takes on a metallic appearance when sunlight shimmers across its surface.
For a shot like this, your camera’s metering system normally gives you a perfect exposure.
Canon EOS 5D MKIII with 70-200mm lens, 1/3200sec at f/9, ISO 200Water reflects light like mad, so if there’s
a lot of it in the frame or you’re including
highlights on water, your camera’s
metering system can easily be fooled
into underexposure.
My approach in tricky situations is
simple. I tend to take a test shot in
aperture priority with no exposure
compensation applied and check the
image and histogram. If the shot is
underexposed (histogram weighted
to the left) I dial-in +1/3, +2/3 or +1 (or
in extreme situations up to +2) stop of
exposure compensation and reshoot.
I then check the image/histogram
again and repeat if necessary.
Sometimes underexposure can be a
bonus, so don’t be too eager to override
your camera’s metering system. If you
include water in the background on a
photograph and there are highlights on
it, any solid objects between you and the
water will record as silhouettes. Boats
and windsurfers on the water, or people
and trees on the shore, make great
silhouettes against sparkling water.
Overexposure can also work when
water forms the background to your
main subject. By gradually increasing the7 WATCH YOUR EXPOSURES
exposure to +2 or even +3 stops over the
metered exposure, you’ll overexpose thewater until it becomes white to create
an atmospheric high-key effect.60-65_LEE_FROST 175 ER/MB.indd 6460-65_LEE_FROST 175 ER/MB.indd 64 27/02/2015 10:3227/02/2015 10:32