Nasty Weather Makes For Great Image Opportunities!

Posted on April 28, 2014

Raindrop On Dogwood Flower, Yosemite National Park, California
Canon 5DMKIII, 100mm macro, f/10, 1/15th, 800 ISO

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful…”

So what do you do when the weather turns bad? Curl up with a good book in front of a fire? That sounded like a really good idea this past Friday when a late-winter storm descended upon Yosemite Valley.

But I actually planned this day. Yeah, I know, sounds crazy, but bad weather often makes for awesome images!

The dogwoods are blooming early in the Valley and it had been three years since I’d had a chance to photograph them. I had two days on my schedule (Wednesday or Friday) that were open for a day trip (I have less than a three hour drive to the Valley from my home).

Wednesday’s forecast was for sun – tough conditions to shoot these delicate blooms. But Friday’s forecast looked promising – originally it called for snow! This is pretty unheard of for California this late in the year. I immediately switched plans and awaited what I hoped would be a winter wonderland.

But as is often the case, Mother Nature had other plans. The snow did indeed arrive, only the snow level was about 600-1,000 feet higher than the Valley floor (4,000 – 4,200 feet). Instead of the white stuff, we (Gary Hart and Mike Hall joined in the fun) were greeted with the wet stuff.

Fortunately there was no wind. At times there was a bit of a breeze, but nothing too hard to deal with. It did rain steadily and even intensified late in the afternoon.

We broke our shooting sessions into two 2 1/2 hour stints, shooting nothing but blooming dogwood. Gary had been in the Valley shooting the previous Tuesday, so he knew the areas that held the most promise.

Today’s image comes from our afternoon session near the turnout across from Bridalveil Fall. I walked around looking for a bloom that would be slightly higher than eye-level. This particular flower caught my eye immediately because of the rain drops that were dripping off the slanted flower.

I envisioned turning the muted highlights to out-of-focus donuts, and just played with a combination of shutter speeds and apertures until it worked. I was fortunate that my camera was on the exact plane on a line between the rain drop and the bud of the flower to hold focus on each.

Moreover, I was also fortunate that the second flower, even though it was out-of-focus, was a bit more yellow as to not to compete for attention with the foreground flower.

The real key is the rain drop. That is what drew my attention and that is what makes this image work. If it was not for a willingness on may part to work in the rain, then this image would have never existed.

Nasty weather usually bodes well for exciting (or at least different) imagery, Yet, one has to be willing to put up with the discomfort of working in such conditions.

Snow is actually easier than rain, but rain is doable as long as it is not accompanied by a lot of wind – especially when trying to shoot closeups with macro lenses!

Here are a few tips for shooting in the rain that will help to alleviate your frustrations:

Dress appropriately: Gore-Tex or water proof clothing.

Use an umbrella: I took along a Nike golf umbrella that really helped keep the rain off my camera and lens.

Cover the camera: I don’t get fancy here. Plastic garbage bags work just as well and $100 covers – with less hassle. I do use either micro fiber cloths or more preferably large car shammy’s to wipe down equipment and lenses.

Keep an eye on your lens filter: the shammy’s work great here. It is imperative that you keep rain drops off you lens – check every frame if necessary.

Take breaks: it is necessary to take a break every now and then to dry off equipment (and yourself). A sort of recharge for both machine and human! Staying warm and dry will go a long way towards improving one’s creativity. Hard to be creative when you are miserable.

Water proof boots: self-explanatory 🙂

Shutter speeds: slower shutter speeds will allow the rain to blur and not record as streaks (unless you want this). Macros allow for extremely limited depth-of-field which also helps eliminate streaking rain.

So the next time the weather turns bad, when all the tourists are running inside, grab your camera and head outside. Not only will your images be more interesting, but more-than-likely, you’ll only be shooting with other pros!

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