Weather

I am very much a guilty party when it comes to taking my camera out of the bag in dull overcast conditions. Learning to use cloudy weather to my advantage is likely to be a useful exercise.

Exercise: Cloudy weather and rain Part 1.

Image 1 Cloudy 1/250 @ f5

Image 1 Sun 1/250 @ f11

In these two images shot on the same day within a few minutes of each other the difference in required aperture settings is larger than I would have expected at two and a half stops. Both images were shot with the white balance set to daylight.

Image 2 Cloudy 1/60 @ f10

Image 2 Sun 1/160 @ f10

The image shot in sunlight appears to have rendered the colours in the scene quite accurately. I wasn't expecting the cloudy shot to turn out so "cool". It has a much colder appearance with a slightly blue tint although the green grass appears to have been well recorded.

For image 2 I shot in aperture priority to establish what the required shutter speed difference would be. A full 1/100 of a second extra was required to correctly expose the cloudy image.








The difference in the tones is similar to the last shot. A much cooler appearance all round. I have to say the shadow on the gatepost in the sunny image is a real distraction. In this event I think I prefer the cloudy picture.

Cloudy Example Image

In this shot taken on an overcast day there is detail to be found in the narrow street and on the prominent tower. I believe if it had been a bright day we would have lost detail in one or the other. Exposing for a well lit tower with the street in shadow would have produced a very unbalanced image.













Exercise: Cloudy weather and rain Part 2

The brief was to take three shots on an overcast day that make good use of shadowless light. I was a little stumped initially but my three examples are;

Picture 1

In Picture 1 I have tried to capture the texture of the stone memorial, including the hollowed sections. I'd like to go back and photograph this again in sunlight. Perhaps I could have chosen a better subject.

Picture 2

Picture 2 definitely works better. Even without direct light casting shadows it is easy to get a feeling of the depth of this image, an old tree trunk with patches of moss and lichen.

Picture 3

The colours in Picture 3 have been rendered far more accurately on a cloudy day than they would have been in full sun. Certainly I believe a brighter day would have reduced the depth of the contrast between the subject and the background.














Exercise: Cloudy weather and rain Part 3

Taking pictures in rain. I used to scared of getting my camera wet. Of course I take precautions to keep it as dry as I can particularly near the sea. But they're pretty well built these days and a little moisture shouldn't do too much harm.

Rain 1

Image Rain 1 was taken in almost monsoon conditions. Everyone ran for cover and put their cameras away. I kept mine out and am glad I did.

Rain 1b

...and as the rain eased off we had the rare opportunity to capture those speeding reflections.

Rain 2

The rain did two things to image Rain 2. It provided the rainbow, but the droplets landing in the lake took away the reflection.

Rain 3

I was drawn by the the reflections of people walking along the road. I didn't have my camera handy so I used my mobile phone which seems to do a half decent job. I wanted someone with an open umbrella and didn't have to wait too long.