Pouring Rain, Photo Fun

This morning I was obliged to walk/run Ziva in rather heavy rain.  Unlike some dogs I could name, she is not the least bit dissuaded by precipitation, or even thunder.  She loves to run through water channels, such as the rush down the street along the gutter on the way to a storm sewer opening at the bottom of a hill.  And if there are piles of wet leaves along the way, so much the better!

Well, after an hour or so of that, I thought I owed it to myself to go out into the rain again with a weather resistant camera.  I had spotted some interesting possibilities along our neighborhood creek.  This is where I say "kids, don't try this at home!"  To put it seriously, if you want to keep your expensive camera gear working, and shoot in heavy rain, you should consider putting a plastic bag around the camera body, with just the hood of the lens poking out of a hole sealed around it.  There are also specially made rain covers for cameras that you can purchase.  Digital cameras are, in large part, computers.  Any water that gets into electronics can cause trouble.  Salt water is especially evil - corrosive! - but that's a discussion for another day.  If you get a little rain on the outside of your camera, just be careful to wipe it off when you get indoors.

All of that notwithstanding, I wasn't worried about the camera and lens I was carrying*, because they are very substantially moisture sealed.  I was careful to keep rain from landing on the front surface of the lens (lens hoods do more than keep stray bright light from hitting the lens), and just went out and shot.  The results were worth it, to me, and it gave me some more experience to call upon if I'm at some gorgeous scenic site on a rainy day.  Here are eight examples.  I began with small things.

Here's a stage-setting view of the creek, running high.

Next are some shots of the white water action.

Note how a high shutter speed freezes the water in the foreground, where it is in focus.

A slow shutter speed perhaps gives a better sense of the many directions of flow.

Finally, a close view of leaves that were collecting and dripping rain. You can see a scattering spray behind them as rain hit a bark projection.  The tree was purplish in the bluish overcast light, and I emphasized the color by increasing the saturation, as if I were shooting the old Fuji Velvia slide film from days of yore.

[Canon 1DX, 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS II]

When my brief excursion was done, the inside of my weather resistant jacket was wet, and my Tilley hat was soaked through.  However, the innards of the camera seem unaffected.  Well, to be fair, the soak-through of my clothing was a result of my hour out with Ziva as well as twenty minutes with the camera!

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Prefiguring Autumn

My plans for today had included photographing the rising full moon and sunset at Lake Jordan. Unfortunately, the weather has been such a washout all day that it seems obvious I'll have to wait for another opportunity.

Sticking closer to home, I noticed that a few leaves were anticipating the autumn transition. The rain added a glossy sheen.

[Canon 300mm f/2.8 L IS II + Ext. 2X III]

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More flowers in the rain

Just a few more photos of flowers, these done Monday while the rain was falling in earnest.

And a pine:

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2014/07/more-flowers-in-rain.html

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Wet Raleigh

It would probably be a good discipline for me to got on a photo outing and limit myself to one image. However, I must admit I'm more inclined to try to find as many different subjects as I can, regardless of where I find myself. Today was a mostly rainy day, with the sky consistently overcast, so I went out to look for scenes of "wet Raleigh". I started with an ess curve of railroad tracks at Pullen Park, and finished on a section of Greenway at almost the opposite end of town. Although I had a selection of lenses with me, all of my shooting ended up being done with a 70-200mm zoom. It was misty when I did the first photo and poured for a time after that, but had quit raining before the last exposures.

Permalink: /2014/04/wet-raleigh.html

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Rain brings out the beauty of autumn leaves

The steady rain we've had today intensified the colors of the leaves and added some nice specular highlights. Here's what I mean:

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/11/rain-brings-out-beauty-of-autumn-leaves.html

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Between bouts of rain, some moments of interesting light

With rainy weather predominating this week, I tried to catch some interesting clouds this afternoon, between the periods of heavy rain and featureless gray sky. Lately, the lakes and rivers are muddy every time I get a look, but the grass and flowers are happy and reflect bright colors. This shot was made with a tilt-shift lens, and I made use of both features: downward shift to include the base of the spray of wildflowers while keeping a level perspective, and downward tilt to extend the plane of sharp focus at an almost horizontal angle so that it encompassed the foreground foliage and the distant trees.

The rain returned in earnest a minute or so after I caught this moment. Lens: Canon 17/4.0 TS-E.

At Shelley Lake in Raleigh, rain began to fall as I set up a panoramic photo. I completed the three overlapping shots that I blended into the final image, then packed and left as a real downpour commenced. I wasn't in the mood to be a lightning rod. Lens: Canon 16-35/2.8 @ 16 mm.

Both of these were situations where a tripod was almost a necessity, in the first case to allow full control over the results of lens movements (tilt and shift), and in the second case to ensure good alignment of multiple images so that I could know what my upper and lower edges would look like when the whole composition was stitched together.

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/07/between-bouts-of-rain-some-moments-of.html

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Just some rain on the pavement, that's all.

After the somewhat painterly approach of the shot above, below is a sharply etched photo that shows an artifact which looks something like an ancient painting.

Cave painting? No, it's obviously just a part of the same concrete walkway, as I'm sure the expansion joint makes clear. I think it looks like a representation of an antelope, but maybe that's just me.

Raindrops falling in an otherwise still puddle. The overlapping waves show clear patterns of interference and reinforcement as the peaks and troughs interact.

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/06/just-some-rain-on-pavement-thats-all.html

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Juliet India Lima Charlie Papa... and Soccer in a spring rain shower

I sometimes am asked what JILCP stands for (because one of my primary websites is at www.jilcp.com). It is nothing more than my initials and those of my business name, Classical Photography. My first name is so often misunderstood in telephone calls that I have been known to try to describe it as"Juliet Echo Sierra Sierra", but that use of the "NATO alphabet" simply led to gender misapprehension: "Juliet who?" Which reminds me of Romeo, who is also in this spelling alphabet, and Shakespeare's phrase "what's in a name?" And drawing from the end of my middle name, who is in the Hotel?

Anyway, speaking of Hotel Echo Alfa Delta Echo Romeo Sierra (ridiculous segue, I know), I shot a soccer game in the rain Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, all kinds of leaping and running was going on.

The slick, rain soaked ground led to a few spills.

The players soldiered on, and so did my camera, which was covered with water (but the lens hood kept the glass dry).

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/04/juliet-india-lima-charlie-papa-and.html

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Rainy, rainy day

Some people like to stay in bed on a rainy morning. That wouldn't apply to me, of course - nothing gets me going like a nice overcast and steady drizzle.

Our dog Photon has become increasingly precipitation averse as she has aged. I guess I can't blame her. It's tough enough to get around with two bum legs. Slippery ground just makes things worse. Notice how she manages not only to stay in bed, but to pull a blanket over herself despite the lack of opposable thumbs. She compensates with un-opposable eyes: we must do her bidding.

The falling water not only transforms the ground, but can turn the bark of a pine tree into a miniature landscape. Between the moss and bubbles, there's contrast of color and texture. I wonder if an insect has bored into the bark and the bubbling results from emission of gaseous metabolites...

I've written previously about similar things on a similarly rainy day. This time, I was prepared to catch the anticipated bubble scene, so that I could do a better job with a tripod, etc. My special equipment included a rain hat, not on my head, but held over the camera.

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/03/rainy-rainy-day.html

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Winter reflection

I only have one photo to show from today's dreary weather. I've always enjoyed using reflections to juxtapose elements of a composition. A puddle brought trees and sky in contact with concrete pavement. Timing the shutter release with water droplet waves, I got the balance I sought.

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/02/winter-reflection.html

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Rainy day fun with cameras

Sometimes a rainy day can feel like a good time to just lie around in bed, especially for an old doggie.

Although I'm not so young myself, rain doesn't bother me. I just happen to prefer winter precipitation in the form of snow. Either way, we need the water. For just a moment this morning, the drizzle made interesting patterns on tree bark. After grabbing this shot with a hand-held telephoto (I'd been hoping to catch some birds feeding on wet terrain), I went for a tripod and another lens, but the bubbly interest was gone, along with the light. The moral of the story: shoot first, question your technique later.

I may have unwittingly started on a path to one of those cliched top ten lists -

   1. The best camera and the best lens are the ones you have with you.
   2. Get the shot first, then go for a better one.
   3. f/8 and be there...

But back to my focus for today. Along with harping on the lack of snow in Raleigh this winter, I've done a couple of posts about flowers that decided to bloom in February as the temperature cycles wildly up and down. Well, one thing about a nice rain pattern is that it can cause droopy blossoms to perk up. So while I'm pleased with the somewhat unusual perspective of the photos I got from ground level shooting up, it was nice to try some more traditional macro shots on the level this afternoon. The drizzle reduced to mist, I worked as the clock approached 5, and enjoyed having the benefit of varying sized drops of moisture on the petals and leaves.

...
   4. To create an interesting photo, find an interesting subject.
   5. Any subject can be interesting if seen imaginatively. [Now, there's a way to challenge yourself!]
   6. Lighting is "everything", which is one reason that...
   7. Timing is everything.
   8. Attempt to perfect things "in the camera", but also understand what you can do in post-processing.
   9. Lists of suggestions do not have to contain ten elements.

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2013/02/rainy-day-fun-with-cameras.html

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Fall Soccer, Rain or Shine

I was asked to photograph a soccer game (young women, U12 division) that I thought would be postponed due to heavy rain. In spite of an already wet field, the game began as scheduled, in a medium drizzle. The rain never let up, but neither did the players. You can see the rain drops and wet hair in the early photos...

...then mud begins to show up  on the players' knees.

One down, and another about to follow.

Before contact with the grass, evidence of earlier scrambles is in evidence.

Still some smiles at timeouts and halftime.

Also some concern showing. I love the challenge of capturing moments of peak action, but my interest in faces and gestures never goes away.

Sometimes a young face full of sunshine makes the rain seem to go away even when it's all around us.

Someone has been waging a "grass roots" campaign today.

 

Back to the game, still raining, still playing hard.

She seems to be airborne about 80% of the time.

 

 

Here's a drive to the goal. Find a small opening between defenders, push through it.

 

Kick hard, and...

What proved to be the winning goal!

It's pretty easy to tell when victory has made its mark on their faces!

 

 

Permalink: http://jilcp.blogspot.com/2012/09/fall-soccer-rain-or-shine.html

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