Don't let rain stop your photographic fun

Too wet for photography?  Think again..

Picture the scene, you planned to visit a special location to take a few photos but the clouds got darker and the rain started to fall. Disaster, plans ruined and your camera left untouched.

This has happened to me on a number of occasions and I decided that I should use it as an opportunity to investigate different types of photography instead of being defeated. Unless, of course, it's torrential rain and then I would take cover and concentrate on indoor work.

Please ensure that you keep your camera equipment dry, there are a number of products available to help with this such as rainsleeves or raincovers, costing from as little as £6 to over £100.

Also, make sure you can keep yourself relatively dry, with protective clothing such as waterproof hiking gear.

If you are in the great outdoors there may be tumbling waterfalls or fast flowing streams where you can try out slow shutter speeds for motion blur or fast speeds to capture water droplets.  Plenty of drama possible here. 



Fast flowing stream - motion blur

In the same type of surroundings you could find that clouds or mist provide some atmospheric shots.



Mist on the fells

Moody sky

Walking alongside a canal you could capture the overflowing water, making patterns with the vegetation that clings on to the sides of the canal. You could then create some unusual abstract artworks from this.





Canal overflow

If you are in a garden look for water droplets trapped in spider's webs or beaded on plants and flowers.

Water droplets on a plant

Raindrops on a flower



Water droplets caught in a spider's web

If you are in an urban environment focus on details, below is an image of three water droplets  on the handrail of steps going down to a shopping mall. You could play around with getting inverted images captured within the water droplet too.

Three raindrops

I'd love to hear what successes you've had, get in touch and I'll share your images.