Rain Photography Guide: How to Shoot Photos in a Rainstorm

Taking great pictures in wet weather requires specific gear.

• The right camera: While smartphone photography has improved by leaps and bounds, DSLR cameras are ideal for capturing great shots. Choose a camera that is effective in dim lighting conditions, and make sure you know how to find the right focal length and ISO. You'll need to shoot at a high dynamic range with a higher ISO than you might use in good weather.
• A waterproof camera bag: Your digital camera is a valuable and expensive tool, so protect it in a waterproof case. Choose a bag that can accommodate a few extra lenses.
• A lens hood and camera raincoat: Protecting your camera in its bag is one thing. You also need to protect it when you're actually out shooting in inclement weather. If you're lacking a lens hood or special camera raincoat, a plastic bag can get you through a short burst of bad weather.
• A tripod: If you’re using a slow shutter speed to capture the beauty of falling water droplets, you’ll need a tripod to keep your camera steady.

Shooting in rainy weather requires trial and error, but certain practices will help you get the best exposures and better photos overall.

1. 1. Look for creative light sources. Shots of falling rain look best when lit from behind. Get creative with artificial lighting sources. City lights, storefronts, traffic lights, and neon signs can all provide the perfect opportunity to light raindrops.
2. 2. Plan to use a medium to high ISO. Use your camera settings to pair a high ISO with a fast shutter speed to capture clear images of falling raindrops. Low-light conditions may also call for longer exposures, in which case you should lower your ISO. High-end cameras may offer an ISO sensitivity auto control feature to make ISO decisions for you.
3. 3. Use large apertures. When shooting dark clouds and rainy weather, start shooting on the f/8 stop and experiment from there. Large apertures enable faster shutter speeds. If you want to play with depth of field, you will invariably need to adjust your aperture.
4. 4. Embrace manual focus. Digital cameras are not calibrated to focus on raindrops right in front of your lens. The autofocus mode will select a more distant object as its focus point, but this can defeat the point of rain photography. Use manual mode to select your own focal point.
5. 5. Try shooting in black and white. The nature of dark, rainy weather lends itself to shades of gray. Black and white photography emphasizes the interplay of light and shadow in images of rain.

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