Seeking tips on shooting in rain (lots of it)

<p>Here in the Pacific Northwest, it rains 360 out of 365 days a year (at least that's how it feels to me). So far, I've been deterred from shooting in the rain to avoid moisture damage to my gear and knowing dark cloudy days usually would not give me great lighting.</p>

<p>I am now determined that since there are so many of these dark wet gloomy days here, perhaps I should take advantage of them and try to compose some great shots under these conditions, either in street urban or landscape environment. So I am hoping that you can share some of your tips on what to prepare and look for in making great "rainy" shots so I can do this all-year round. </p>

<p>For example, would simply wrapping a clear plastic bag over my camera do the job in protecting it? Should I look for wet ground reflections to compose great images? Colourful umbrellas? Wet flowers (if I can find any)? People's gloomy faces in the rain?</p>

<p>Please share.</p>

<p>they sell camera raincovers</p>

<p>... here: <a href="http://www.thinktankphoto.com/categories/camera-rain-covers.aspx">Camera Rain Covers</a>.<br /> BTW, I love rain photos. Usual scenes where the rain can be seen and felt. In my photo lab there is only one big print on the wall; Grandma`s house under a summer rain. Light across the clouds, puddles, wet grass...</p>

<p>There are rain covers meant for this purpose (like the Think Tank Hydrophobia) which come in versions for different lens configurations, and even to accommodate a shoe-mounted flash. And there are tripod brackets rigged to hold large golf-style umbrellas. I've been known to just bring along a pop-up 10x10 canopy ... it really depends on what you're shooting and where.<br /><br />If it's just drizzly out, or not raining <em>too</em> hard, I really don't think twice about getting my D300 and any of my better weather-sealed (read: "rain resistant") lenses out. A little rain never hurt a thing, so far. Which body, lens, and camera bag you're carrying will have a lot to do with how fussy you should be in this regard.</p>

<p>My tips? 1) Have a feel. 2) Visualize it. 3) Shoot. 4) Share! :)<br>

I don`t have specific rain covers, but umbrellas everywhere (three in the car!) Golf ones are great in the field, some are really strong. On windy weather they are useless.<br>

Found a sample here in pnet:<br /> <img src="http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00T/00Tg4r-144991584.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="590" /><br /><br /></p>

<p>You obviously haven't lived there long enough for the statistics to catch up with you, I clearly remember at least 25 days a year when it didn't rain in Seattle, Bainbridge Island ;). Anyway - yes umbrella, rain slicker (or other waterproof rainwear), a waterproof bag of some sort if you can't keep your gear pretty much otherwise covered. Don't try to outsmart heavy rain, but the fog and mist provide outstanding photo opportunities as the lighting is so much less contrasty. Also try to go out shooting right after the rain stops...you still get the atmosphere without the water drops. For some great landscape opportunities do some shooting from the ferries or go over to what is called beach #2 near La Push on the Olympic Peninsula...one could spend a lot of time shooting everything from sea stacks to tide pool critters, waves, forest, rocks, etc. I've shot several times out there in light rain/mist....really neat! In Seattle proper another interesting spot is in the old neighborhoods on Queen Anne Hill. Good luck & try to stay reasonably dry.</p>

<p>I have photographed a lot in the rain and never had any equipment damaged.<br>

I was photographing 1993 Cyclocross nationals in horrible rain. I packed 3-4 changes of clothes so I could survive. I shot with my Nikon 8008s + SB-25 + 4 lenses. Late in the day, the camera stopped working, so I switched to my Minolta X-700. I dried the camera when I got home that night. It worked fine, no damage.<br>

I once did damage my equipment when an ocean wave broke over my 8008s + SB-25 + 105 micro. I had walked away to go get some more equipment from my bag, spied the sleeper wave, ran back just in time to get one hand on the tripod leg so I didn't lose the whole rig. 8008s and SB-25 went in for service and still work to this day. 105 micro was not damaged.<br>

Nowadays I shoot in the rain often with a D90 + 24-70 or 70-200 + SB-600. I have had no problems at all. I dry everything off and clean the lenses when I get home.<br>

I love shooting in the rain. My main subject is bicycle races. The expressions you get on the riders faces are so much better in the rain, and the rain drops, splashes, puddles, spray off the back tires, etc. make for great pictures. Rainy days also make for great b/w conversions.</p>

<p>If I shot in the rain and didn't need the full-blown protection of an expensive underwater housing, I'd get an Ewa-Marine housing- at $200, they're reasonably-priced:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/17362-REG/Ewa_Marine_EM_U_F_U_F_Underwater_Housing.html">http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/17362-REG/Ewa_Marine_EM_U_F_U_F_Underwater_Housing.html</a></p>

<p>I use the Thinktank Photo Hydrophobia. Works great and keeps the camera dry and easy to handle.</p>

<p>Victor: I have shot quite a lot in the rain ... some things that come in handy ... a SMALL pop-up umbrella (one hand with it, one with the camera, stows away easily) ... plastic bags big enough to fit over the camera (several extra fit in any pocket) ... these to keep the camera dry between shooting ... not too much changing of lenses ... and, OH YEAH, a lens hood! Best of success with your efforts ... there are rarely any other photographers out on rainy days.</p>

<p>I use either a large plastic trash bag or in this situation a large, thick towel. Most cameras can take a few drops without damage.</p><div></div>

<p>Hold an umbrella with one hand, shoot with the other. I've done it, it's not easy, but if you have no other choice, it works.<br /> <img src="http://hull534.smugmug.com/photos/1041553055_D7Q9a-L.jpg" alt="" /><br /> <a href="http://hull534.smugmug.com/photos/1041553055_D7Q9a-XL.jpg"><strong>Aboard the 1930 MS HIKAWA MARU, Yokohama, Japan, 2006, in the rain. Nikon D80, ISO 400.</strong></a></p>

<p>A sturdy plastic bag (preferably transparent), a long lens hood, and a rubber band make serviceable temporary rain protection. The bag should be at least large enough to protect both the photographer's head and the camera. The lens hood protrudes through a small hole in the bag. The rubber band seals the bag to the hood. This works better with longer prime lenses. Wide angle zooms or lenses are apt to collect raindrops on the front glass.</p>

<p>Wish I could help you, Victor, but I have lived in Bellevue WA, a suburb of Seattle, for the past 34 years, and it never rains here. I am surprised that no one has suggested using a Nikon F or F2 as opposed to some electronic whizbang. I am sure they could stand it. I think it was in one of Ivor Matanle's book that a war correspondent had just gotten out of Cambodia in 1970 with some priceless photos taken with a Nikon F. Somehow, the camera was dropped into salt water with the film still in it. He flew back to the New York Times with the camera in a bucket of water. The technicians recovered the film, which was not affected, and dried out the camera, which made it operable once again.</p>

<p>Now as to weather. I grew up in Niagara Falls NY and attended the University of Buffalo, 20 mile away, now known as SUNYB. Buffalo has but two seasons, winter and the 4th of July. I received a commission into the Air Force and a degree in mechanical engineering. Because I am color blind (as you can tell from my crappy photos) I was not going to be part of an aircrew. So I elected to volunteer for Air Weather Service, because the commitment was three years and the first year would be spent wearing civvies and attending one of 12 universities spread across the US. It turned out to be NYU at their campus in the Bronx. Best college year of my life. I enjoyed weather and air force life so I chose to stay in and 3 years after my year at NYU, I was sent to MIT for 2 years where I earned masters degrees in meteorology and aero-astro.</p>

<p>In my 22 years in the service, I have lived in, not just visited, New York City, Atlanta, Ft Walton Beach Florida, Boston, Washington DC, Saigon, Omaha, St Louis, Montgomery AL, and Seattle. I have been in 44 of the states on business trips or vacation.</p>

<p>Speaking as a professional, the Seattle area has the nicest summers that I know of. We don't get enough rain in the summer. The average high temp is 75F (24C) in the summer and it gets dark around 9:30 PM. We are at about the same latitude as Quebec City, but our weather is very mild. We don't need air conditioning, have low humidity, very few bugs, no poisonous snakes, no tornadoes, no hurricanes, we have a bounty on televangelists and we shoot gospel quartets on sight. We do have the occasional earthquake. Our winters are dark and damp. Because we have snow covered mountains to the east and west and heavy cloud cover in the winter, it seems even darker, but the average high temp in our coldest month, January, is 45F but it gets pitch black at about 4:15 in December. We get noticeable snow in Seattle maybe every other year, but if you drive about 50 miles to the east, the snow is measured in feet, and one can commute ski on the lighted slopes. I merely endure from november to the end of February, but my wife, a native, loves the gloom.</p>

<p>We have terrible traffic here, but I retired 5 years ago and can usually pick my hours to go anywhere.</p>

<p>I went on and on about my history merely to indicate my meteorology background and that I have lived in a broad range of climates, and yes, global warming is not a hoax. If I had to choose the worst climate of the cities I have lived in, it would be St Louis, with its unpleasant summers AND winters.</p>