How to : Shoot Raindrop Patterns

While rain can often ruin a day's photography, you can also use it to your advantage to create some interesting still-lifes.

When in the mood to head outand take pictures, nothing's more frustrating than having plans washed out by a heavy shower. Sure, the rain may be good for the plants, but that's little consolation. What is. however, is being prepared to grab some great images shortly after the showers have finished. The idea for this simple abstract still-life came about after a short but heavy downpour, which had left large globules of water on a car It had just been washed and waxed, so the raindrops coagulating into relatively large, thick droplets.

Like other 'found' still-lifes. this is a relatively easy one to photograph, as you don't have a huge amount of preparation to do. However, there are some factors that you need to consider. The first is that the metallic bodywork is going to reflect anything in the surrounding area, so you need to park your car in a location where you can shoot from a direction that excludes buildings, lampposts and so on, and only includes the sky. You also need to shoot from an angle that excludes yourself, too, so rather than stand right over the bonnet looking down, shoot from a slight angle. If your camera has a van-angle LCD monitor, this can come in useful.

You've little to worry about in terms of the exposure as this is a very simple subject to shoot. Your main concern is ensuring the reflective nature of the car doesn't cause underexposure. A quick test shot will confirm whether or not you need to apply exposure compensation of +1EV {one stop). Use aperture-priority mode and set f/8-11 for a good level of depth-of-fteld and optimum lens sharpness. If the shutter speed is too slow and risks shake, use image stabilisation and/or raise the ISO rating. We'd suggest a maximum of ISO 400. otherwise you risk introducing noise into the image - if shutter speeds remain slow, consider using a slightly wider aperture setting.

Kit Recommendation

Lens

Any lens that has a reasonable close-focusing distance is suitable. If you're using a DSLR or CSC. your standard kit zoom is more than sufficient. If you want to isolate small groups of globules, then a macro lens enables you get closer


Camera

You can use pretty much any type of camera for this technique. A digital SLR or CSC gives you the most options in terms of lens choice and image quality. That said, digital compacts and smartphones are capable of giving excellent results  

Polarising filter

A polariser eliminates reflections and is worth trying out to see how it affects the final results. Although best used in sunny conditions, give it a go even if it's cloudy to still see an affect. Bear in mind you'll lose two stops of light, so keep an eye on shutter speeds.

Check Exposures : If your car is white or black, you may need to use exposure compensation to avoid under- or overexposure

Unwanted Reflections : Don't lean directly over to frame the droplets, otherwise you risk including yourself in the reflections.

Improve your options : Using LiveView allow you to stretch further over the bonnet without your reflection being included.

Avoid Wide Apertures : Shot at an angle using f/3.5, the limited depth-of-field is evident so use a mid-aperture like f/8-11.

The Final Image : Finding the perfect pattern takes patience and time. I found I had to shuffle around a fair bit, changing the focal length of my standard zoom to see how droplets looked through the zoom range. My personal preference were areas with droplets that ranged from large globules to tiny beads of water. Once I'd selected my favourite image, I adjusted levels to boost contrast and cropped it into a square format.