Do you like to shoot in the rain?

[loccdor]

Do you like to shoot in the rain? What precautions do you take?

I really like, for example, the extra-deep color from autumn leaves and plants when they are wet.

You also have softer lighting conditions, so that more temperamental film stocks become easier to use.

For extended or heavy rainfall it's either an umbrella or a plastic camera covering. The umbrella is a poor choice in wind. A filter and lens hood help, too.

Or perhaps you are the type to just let the rain hit the camera?

In light rainfalls with small cameras I'll often just put them in a belt-mounted camera bag and take them out briefly to use them, before wiping them with a cotton cloth and putting them back. After the outing things are left to dry for a few days before storage. I've had some leather ever-ready cases develop mold, but no lenses did.

I want to shoot in rain and snow more often. It's more interesting and you can see things that are rare in nice weather. You typically have the place to yourself and animal behavior is different, too. Reflections and shininess can also be a subject.

 

[koraks]

No way! Rain = stay indoors. One of the main issues with rain is that most of the time when it rains here, the light is horrible (missing altogether and very flat). Oh - and it's wet. That's a problem for me, too. I'm made of sugar; I melt.

 

[baachitraka]

stay at home and drink something warm but shooting day after a storm is always nice!!!

 

[gary mulder]

Sometimes, I love sailing.

 

[dpurdy]

I like shooting when it's snowing. Does that count?

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Yup.

Rain poncho attached to focusing cloth when using 4x5 and a small umbrella clamped to tripod when going digital.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

If you wait for nice days to do anything where I live (north coast BC, Canada) you'd never get anything done. We get an average of 3080mm (121 inches) of precipitation a year. Nearby Ketchikan Alaska gets 152 inches. It can rain/drizzle for weeks.

I love the light. Imagine a sky sized soft box over head. I cal it all enveloping opalescent light.

 

[Pioneer]

I have been caught out in the rain or the snow while shooting. I am not sure that counts since I am usually looking for cover when that happens, not shooting.

However the idea of using my 4x5 on a tripod with an umbrella is an idea I will have to think about. That may have possibilities.

 

[MurrayMinchin]

...However the idea of using my 4x5 on a tripod with an umbrella is an idea I will have to think about. That may have possibilities.

I'd recommend a poncho...an umbrella on a 4x5 is scary!

 

[warden]

Do you like to shoot in the rain? What precautions do you take?

I really like, for example, the extra-deep color from autumn leaves and plants when they are wet.

You also have softer lighting conditions, so that more temperamental film stocks become easier to use.

For extended or heavy rainfall it's either an umbrella or a plastic camera covering. The umbrella is a poor choice in wind. A filter and lens hood help, too.

Or perhaps you are the type to just let the rain hit the camera?

In light rainfalls with small cameras I'll often just put them in a belt-mounted camera bag and take them out briefly to use them, before wiping them with a cotton cloth and putting them back. After the outing things are left to dry for a few days before storage. I've had some leather ever-ready cases develop mold, but no lenses did.

I want to shoot in rain and snow more often. It's more interesting and you can see things that are rare in nice weather. You typically have the place to yourself and animal behavior is different, too. Reflections and shininess can also be a subject.

I don't do it often but I do like it, mainly because of the reflections on the ground opening up opportunities. I try to keep the camera dry, usually with an umbrella.

 

[Ian Grant]

In general no, however there have been the odd exceptions over the years, and that's shooting 5x4, usually sheltered under a large tree with a big umbrella.

Ian

 

[MartinCrabtree]

I enjoy shooting motocross in the rain. Plastic bags, raincoats and anything else to cover the camera. You need to be aware when close to the track because the roost from the rear wheel can be fatal to lenses, doesn't do the camera a lot of good either. Honestly most of the shots are poor but every once in awhile...

 

[Tel]

I like shooting closeups in (or just after) a rainfall. I grab my F2 with the 55mm Micro-Nikkor and go looking for water droplets and such on vegetation. Also good for freezing rain, especially when it's backlit.

ice by terry, on Flickr

 

[MurrayMinchin]

In 1992/1993 my wife and I sea kayaked the coast of BC, Canada for six months. The first leg was from the end of October to the middle of December on the north coast during what turned out to be a record year for lack of direct sunshine...meaning it rained/drizzled most of the time.

She paddled a single and I paddled a double with the forward cockpit holding our big tent, food box, and my 4x5 gear.

Seagulls were taking fresh water baths in the middle of channels because of how much rain the rivers were dumping in the ocean. (Fresh water floats on salt water until it gets mixed in).

There were times on that trip where I had to wring out the focusing cloth between exposures.

 

[jeffreyg]

I use large Ziplock bags Slit so I can attach the camera to a tripod and zipped around a sun shade. A misty rain is one of my favourite conditions.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Rain here is so rare, that even though I have plastic rain sleeves, when it does rain here I am never ready. Partly because I have to find the rain sleeve and partly because other than the streets reflecting light in the rain, I have not picked out a location.

 

[MattKing]

Not particularly, even though I have and can.
But I really like to photograph just after the rain stops.
And if I take the camera with me, sometimes the best light is just before it starts, or when it is raining nearby..

 

[DREW WILEY]

I love walking and shooting in the rain, and also snow, but not in a sever downpour or blizzard, though I've certainly hiked and backpacked through many many of those. For wet days, I might carry a Nikon tucked under my parka, or either a Pentax 6x7 or my Fuji 6X9 RF in a shoulder bag, with the tripod carried rifle-style over my shoulder. If shooting 4x5 or 8X10, my backpack is all-weather style, and I have a large waterproof darkcloth. Inclement weather is very common in the mountains, so wet and stormy weather photography accounts for a significant portion of my portfolio.

A particular optometrist would accept prints as payments, and liked mountain scenes. Over time, he had them all over his office as well in his living room at home. But one day his wife said they made her feel cold all the time, with all that snow and ice, so replaced them with sunnier southwestern pictures.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Golden hour with light rain - best thing ever
Especially when the rain pauses for a second.

 

[4season]

Intense downpours, sometimes accompanied by howling wind, hail, dramatic thunder + lightning: I stay indoors, but the immediate aftermath can be glorious. But if the ground is saturated, I'd avoid landslide-prone areas thank you very much.

 

[cliveh]

 

[cliveh]

Or just before the downpour: -

 

[cliveh]

Or: - Winchester Cathedral in the rain.

 

[Milpool]

I would like to but somehow I never end up doing it, mostly because I'm way too slow at working a camera and not sure how to manage the wind etc. I've done some pre/post rain/storm pictures. Here's one:

 

[Hassasin]

That's what Nikonos was meant for, not diving, but in pouring rain. Best time shooting (I love running in the rain too, so maybe I am different)