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.

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Superzooms vs DSLRs

If you have several thousands of rupees to spend and are wondering whether to buy a DSLR or a superzoom camera, there are some things to bear in mind. For the ultimate in image quality, nothing can beat a DSLR, but there are a number of reasons to consider a superzoom instead. A superzoom's lens can't be changed, but you'd need to buy several lenses for a DSLR to match the zoom range of any of the models on test, and this could cost thousands of rupees or more.

A superzoom camera, then, is as much about convenience as it is value. Zooming from a panoramic 24mm right through to 800mm and beyond is a sight to behold, and takes mere seconds. Swapping lenses on a DSLR takes far longer, and opens up the possibility of dust and dirt getting into the fragile image sensor.

Some may also appreciate the greater depth of field that a superzoom and its smaller sensor inherently brings, especially for macro shots. This is one area where superzooms win out, as virtually all can focus down to l cm. You'd need an expensive macro tens to enable a DSLR to do the same. 

These huge zoom lenses do have their disadvantages, though. Barrel distortion is common at the wide end of the zoom, but a more important limitation is aperture. Although superzoom lenses tend to match budget DSLR lenses for their maximum aperture, it's possible to buy prime lenses with much larger apertures such as f/1.8 for less than 10,000 INR. This makes them far superior for low-light photography, as well as creative shots with out-of-focus backgrounds.

Click image to enlarge

A DSLR's greatest asset is its larger sensor. The diagram shows the huge difference between the APS-C sensor used by a typical entry-level DSLR, and the miniscule version that superzoom cameras have. This means less light is captured by each individual photocell, leading to longer shutter speeds that have to be counteracted (to avoid blurry photos) by high ISO speeds, causing noise to appear. The camera's processor deals with as much of this as it can, using noise reduction algorithms, but this inevitably smothers details, so photos look "smooth" or smeary. If manufacturers had resisted the urge to cram ever more pixels into a l/2.3in sensor, image quality would be far better. DSLRs aren't immune to noise, but their noise reduction systems don't have to work as hard.

Finally, DSLRs are also king when it comes to performance. Several of the cameras on test this month have closed the gap considerably, but most DSLRs turn on and allow you to shoot almost instantly, which means you're more likely to capture that special moment. Even Sony's expensive HX100V takes almost three seconds to achieve the same feat. 

 

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