There are many reasons to think that it is a bad idea to do a Photo Session In The Rain. But I’m going to give you great advice to turn things around, and your photo shoot will be fun and an exciting adventure.
At first, you’d think, that making a good picture is impossible when rain is pouring, the sky is grey, and the lightening is bad. Also, not every couple will feel optimistic about it. I am the opposite, because I like creative challenges!
When it’s raining, I see opportunity! It is a perfect time for a photographer to prove his level! You get a variety of emotions from people: It can be a confusion or laughter, concern or unrestrained joy. Every single client’s expression is a source of inspiration to make a good picture. It is important to be ready for a sudden change of weather, and a good set of skills will help you to capture a great moment to remember.
Let me share my experience with you, I hope this will inspire newcomers and will be helpful to pros too. You can also share this info with your clients because it can dispel any doubt about photo shoot on a rainy day.
Think Positively
If you start thinking positively, then the rain is the perfect reason for a couple to get closer to each other under an umbrella. This is a great intimate moment to capture. Love is in the air, even when it’s raining. Though the moment is great, your camera can get wet, and it will appreciate some love from you too. It is natural to be concerned about the weather, so prepare yourself and your camera, and only then think about photo shoot.
Remember to watch or read a forecast for the next day. It can help you prepare and you can morally accept the inevitable. By the way, a colorful umbrella can be a nice prop. Also, think of shoes you’ll wear, they have to be comfortable and water-resistant. I ask my clients to take an umbrella that has no pictures, patters or ornaments on it, it is better to have one solid color. I have bought a transparent umbrella some time ago, for a wedding shoot I had, so if my couple doesn’t have an appropriate one, I have a good replacement
Protect Your Camera Gear
You can use your lens hood not only to get rid of flares but also this will shelter your lens from raindrops. You don’t want to get blurry pictures and have trouble focusing! Keep your camera inside jacket or coat, or any other outer clothing, and take the camera out only to take a picture. If you have an assistant, then he or she can hold umbrella over you, while you’re shooting. Personally, I like raincoats. It is light and easy to carry, so you can be ready when it might rain. You can always buy special cases for underwater shooting, but they are too bulky to use or too expensive for my taste.
After any photo shoot, remember to dry up your camera in a space with room temperature. Be patient and careful when removing memory cards and battery.
It is hard to predict the weather, but what we can do is to change your attitude to the unpredictable weather events. A photographer has to be confident in any situation, keep positive thinking at all times, and never panic or worry (or at least not to show it). Trust me on this, your emotional state always transimts to your client. And, as funny as it may sound, I always tell my clients to show all their emotions, and not to hold anything back. One of the warmest and romantic moment can happen on a rainy day, I can assure you!
Rainy Tips For Photography
Here are some tips for newcomers. Overcast and rainy days always have low lightening conditions. Don’t be afraid to set high ISO, you can set WB to “cloudy” and picture will get warmer.
You can use long shutter speed like 1/50 or 1/25 to get a cool effect, where you see raindrops as long thin lines. Rain certainly forms many puddles that can be used too! Be sure to check out reflections in those puddles. You can ask your couple to stand beside it and take a picture of them in reflection. Puddle of any size can be your little artistic helper. Show some results to your couple straight away, I bet they’ll get excited and from my experience, couples usually start to spout some cool ideas for you.
Night city lights can also be beautiful in reflections as artist’s watercolor paint, colored lights spread on wet asphalt, glittering.
Also be sure to try to edit some pictures in black and white. Cloudy weather has dimmed colors all around, and the grey color is dominating. Try to convert some pictures to BnW and I’m sure some of them will look stunning and artistic. Also, adding a strong contrast when editing black and white pictures, can be a good thing.
Photo Session In The Rain
I hope I convinced you not to be afraid of a rainy day. Here’s an example of a picture I took. It was a wedding day, but not the usual one. My couple were by themselves. The only family member alongside with them was their dog. It was raining at first, so we sat out the rain in an empty café, where they drank wine. They had an umbrella with rainbow colors, that I was eager to use! So as we walked along the embankment, I spotted a cool round puddle! I instantly figured out the action for my couple: I asked them to jump over the edge of the puddle together while holding the umbrella.
I already took many pictures of the couple, so I wanted to do something different, so I shot the picture where you can see only the part of their bodies and the reflection in the puddle. I got my ISO at 640 and aperture at F4, the shutter speed was 1/640 – fast enough to catch them flying.
I used awesome ROCKSHUTTER presets to edit this one. I really like to play with blending modes, when I use presets. For this one, I used RETRO PRIME preset and set blending mode to SCREEN, adjusted opacity to 78%. Then I used COLOR BALANCE and HUE/SATURATION adjusting layers to pop colors on the umbrella. After that I created a copy of all layers combined and applied blur effect on it. Using black mask and a brush, I blurred only sides of the image. The picture’s ready to inspire my clients!
