Rainy Day Photography

Rainy day photography can be especially fine. I still remember the days of ASA 25 Kodachrome II film, which produced slides of amazingly vibrant color. Although this was an incredibly slow ASA (now known as ISO) and thus required wide open lenses and a steady hand, a day trip in the rain always brought back spectacular results. The pictures above, taken with my little 10 megapixel Nikon point and shoot, capture these days gone by. The beauty of rain is that it softens the colors and eliminates all shadows, thus providing a wider range of tones than you find on a bright sunny day. These pictures are opened in Adobe Bridge, where I was able to intensify the blacks and the vibrancy.

Rule of thumb – the lower your ISO, the more vibrant your colors to begin with. If you can, set your ISO as low as possible to still have sharp, steady pictures. Depending on the light, your lens, and the subject matter, 100 to 200 is ideal.