Interesting photo in the rain - Tips on how to take an interesting photo in the rain?
You can still take an interesting photo in the rain. As a London wedding photographer sooner or later you will have a wedding in the rain. Then you ask yourself a question - what can I do to make any interesting photos when it's pouring outside?
That concerns especially London wedding photographers, whose couples are going for a long honeymoon and there will be no second chance to make a portrait session.
Unfortunately, in the UK, it happens very often. To be prepared and still be able to do the job we need to have to backup options. The first one is to work outside, using the rain to our advantage. The second one is to make portraits in the interiors.
If we have a beautiful sunny day, all we have to do to make some interesting shots is to take the couple outside the venue or to the garden, find a nice shady place with lovely background or look for a beautiful rim light and work against the sun (more on how to work against the sun here surrey wedding photographer). Things are getting complicated when there is pouring rain outside. There is only one way, how to make interesting and sometimes even spectacular photos in rain. by using the remote flashes.
The creative advantage they can bring to a session is unparalleled and we strongly believe that all London wedding photographers should master the remote flash technique, even on the basic level.
The rules are:
We are setting the exposure first on the background (making sure that the background is exposed as we want to). We need to remember the sync time of our camera and flash. The shutter speed can't be faster than the sync time. It is safe to leave it on 1/125s or even at a slower speed. We are trying to keep the ISO low as well.
Next, we are putting one of the flashes behind the bride and groom. It can't be just behind them. You need to leave a gap for the light to spread around the couple and to make raindrops more visible. The flash should be protected against rain. The transparent zip A4 bag will be perfect for that purpose. Of course, the flash has to be radio triggered as there is now a direct line of sight between the flash and camera, so the systems like CLS or photocell will not work. Just start from 1/32 of the power and if necessary change the flash power later.
We can take a picture now and figure out whether are we happy with the result. If the faces of the couple are really dark, we can do two things - change the ISO or add one more light. We can use a video light or another flash. It is up to the wedding photographer.
This is not an easy technique and as we all know when we work under the stress (and taking the wedding couple outside when it rains is very stressful and must be done quickly, even if they have umbrellas). That's why it is crucial for wedding photographers to practice and master this technique before the wedding. You mustn't experiment on the couple. We can not stress this enough. Master the technique first, then when you are confident that you will know exactly what to do, ask the couple to go outside.
This option is actually very good if we don't want to take the risk of going outside. If the venue of the interior is nice and interesting we can end up with a really nice session indoors.
The internet is extremely useful in this case. We can scout the location and look for the photos taken inside the venue and plan our session ahead. An even better idea is to meet with the couple in the venue and have a look around. We can find interesting spots for taking the wedding couple portraits, so we will be prepared when the wedding comes and the weather will not be the best. Of course, there is not possible to plan everything, but good preparation minimises the stress if the weather goes bad and we have to work under very hard conditions. Photoshoot in interiors means that we have to be prepared to work with mixed light conditions - cold light from outside (especially on a rainy day) and warm tungsten light inside. That can create all sorts of colour problems. In this case, we often use the Westcott Icelight. This wonderful tool is like a magic wand and it helps you to create window light quality for portraits, but with controlled temperature, angle and strength of light. It is very easy to use and we can create wonderful portraits with a romantic look. Every bride will love this kind of portrait.
The following portrait was done using Ice Light.
No matter what option we choose for the portrait session on a rainy day, good wedding photographers have to be always prepared and have a backup plan.
We can't let our couples down so every wedding photographer needs to invest in some set of continuous light and remote flash which help them to create something interesting even in harsh weather.
We truly hope that this post will make some of the wedding photographer life easier. Good luck.