Inspiration Needed - post photos shot on rainy and/or overcast days

Christina - thanks for the equipment info. Mike has covered it all so have nothing to add.

In reply to Bobo and Christina - I wear a raincoat.:D

Glenn - from where it rains a bit some days.;)

I try not to but have a few disposables in the bag but never used them. :)

Thank you Martin and Ian... :)

Christina, It was foggy and rainy when I woke up this morning. I wanted to travel to the ocean (about 20 miles from me) to shoot Oceanside Harbor in the fog and perhaps some other shots of the shoreline. However, my natural laziness overwhelmed my creative juices and I stayed home with a hot cup of coffee!

Thank you for the thought Richard... ;)

I did get outside the other day and took some photos of a seagull hanging about the city in the rain but all my shots were very dismal so I trashed them all... I'll think of it as another photography goal for me to work on..

I found just one photo from a couple of years ago that I took in the rain that is okay, shows potential, so I'll share it

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...ps853b793e.jpg

Once I manage to get a decent shot of something in the rain, I will post it.. And from yesterdays experiment it looks like it may take me a little while...

http://i47.tinypic.com/312zjvl.jpg water droplet after a rain fall

Nice droplet capture Christina and Richard.

One word: Saturate

http://i48.tinypic.com/x6f7s.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by geoz

One word: Saturate

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Yes, but be careful how you do it Christina. It is easy to generate extra noise or to end up with an unnatural looking result.

Using an Adjustment Layer gives you some extra control. An 'unadjusted' adjustment layer with a good choice of Blend Mode and just the right amount of opacity can often give the best results. And, of course, you can selectively apply the effect with a mask.

And keep the highlights fairly high, without causing any hotspots.

As always. Thank you Geoff.

Hi Mike,
The other day I went out on a rainy day and tried some bird photos using aperature priority and auto iso with the max iso set to 800..

Here is a great example of the noise (the iso selected by my Nikon D80 was 320)... The shot is not worth editing but it shows the noise I experience when using iso auto, typically in shots including the water or sky... My other shots using this setting had an over exposed sky (white when using Aperture 5 or as light as I can go) Others turned out okay.. see later post...

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...ps0858caaf.jpg

I headed out, despite the rain and here are my first rainy day shots. It was cold, wet and muddy, but I think with practice I'll eventually manage a few decent shots... thank you to everyone for your advice and inspiration

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...ps69131a68.jpg

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...ps1bcaba11.jpg

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...ps78ea3e49.jpg

I think all that is needed is an attachment to mount an umbrella to a tripod and you'll be all set. Nice coloration in the feathers.

Glad to see you getting out to capture pictures of the ducks! However, notice that they aren't sharp. You might have used a shutter speed that is too slow to stop the motion of the ducks and/or to hold your camera steady.

Look for a PM from me regarding the image with the noise.

Thank you for your replies and advice... Yes, I could of used a tripod and most every photo has a bit or a lot of blur, and not sharp... So next time I'll try manual mode (here I used aperture priority)... And now I see the appeal of the umbrella tripod gizmo... :)

I kinda like the "helper holding the umbrella over tripod" instead of the "umbrella tripod gizmo"... less likely to get blown over because of those unfortunately timed gusts of wind. :)

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Originally Posted by Christina S

So next time I'll try manual mode (here I used aperture priority)

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I think you'll have better long-term success if you master one mode before moving on to another. The soft focus in the images doesn't have anything to do with aperture priority vs. manual mode. The soft focus has to do with your focusing skills, not the exposure. So, I recommend that you master focusing while using either the aperture priority or the shutter priority. If you want to shoot moving ducks, you might want to use shutter priority to ensure that your shutter is fast enough.

Once you master shutter priority, it's really easy to master aperture priority and vice versa. The two concepts are intrinsically linked in the sense that when you change one, the other also changes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Christina S

Hi Mike,
The other day I went out on a rainy day and tried some bird photos using aperature priority and auto iso with the max iso set to 800..

Here is a great example of the noise (the iso selected by my Nikon D80 was 320)... The shot is not worth editing but it shows the noise I experience when using iso auto, typically in shots including the water or sky... My other shots using this setting had an over exposed sky (white when using Aperture 5 or as light as I can go) Others turned out okay.. see later post...

http://backup.cambridgeincolour.com/...ps0858caaf.jpg

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Aha, maybe now I see noise, that grainy look on the photo, I think.

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Originally Posted by rawill

Aha, maybe now I see noise, that grainy look on the photo, I think.

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Robin,
you are correct.
There is a good section in the tutorials relating to noise, well worth a read if you have the time.
'Neat Image' is a plug-in for Photoshop and PSE, it helps in reducing noise; not perfect, but the best I've come across.