51 Different subjects on photography, and I’m going to do them all. Today’s subject: Taking photos in the rain:

Doesn’t rainy days bring you a certain feeling of calm? Or do you worry about rain? There are some great photos that come from the photo world taken in the rain. But, obviously certain precautions have to be taken to get the photo you want. Like, how do I keep my camera from getting damaged? How does my photo turn out when there’s water on the lens? This is certainly some tough questions and we are going to handle it here and now.

1- Protect your camera gear:

There are currently over 2500 different items to protect your camera from Amazon. Click: rain protection for your camera to see what you can do to protect your camera.

If you have an umbrella, it really isn’t so hard to hold the umbrella and take pictures at the same time:

This is an extreme example, but, hey! it works.

If you want to be a serious photographer in the rain, then I would recommend that you get protective coverings for your camera. Click: rain protection for your camera

2- Look for water reflections. This is something that you don’t see a lot, and a lot of great photos are done by reflections.

3- Backlight the rain:

Unless it’s absolutely pouring, it can be difficult to see visible raindrops in an image. An easy technique to make raindrops pop in a shot is by adding some back lighting.

Now, I am not suggesting you should do your wedding photos in the rain, although that’s pretty nice, but look for light to shoot in to, because it’s hard to see the rain drops unless it is lit by backlight. Try this even:

4. Watch a scene transform

Sometimes you don’t need to capture the rain itself, but the clues that indicate that it’s raining. A good way to shoot a street scene in the rain is to capture the umbrellas, the rain jackets, the puddles, and the reflections of raindrops on the ground.

A normal, everyday intersection tells a completely different story once the frame is littered with umbrellas.

5- Find the beauty in bad weather:

6- Keep an eye out for rainbows. This is mother nature smiling at you.

7- Capture a high contrast storm if it’s there. Mother nature is beautiful, but there’s nothing quite as eye-catching as a dramatic storm front.

If there’s a lightning storm approaching, get to safety first, and capture the storm only after it’s moved past you. 

To do this, simply get your tripod out and set your camera’s aperture between f8 and f14 so that the entire scene is in focus.

8- If you want to be serious about photographing in the rain, then consider getting a weatherproof camera. I just happen to carry one in my camera bag all the time. I am always ready for a good wet storm.

This is the camera that I have, and it has proven time and time again to be one of the best waterproof / weatherproof cameras on the market. Always find a way to get those amazing rain photos. You will be glad you did.