John & Maria's Photography Pages

Garden Photography in the rain

There was a time when I hurried to pack the camera away when it rained. I simply couldn't trust the weather sealing on my amateur Canon gear.

Buying into the Olympus system has changed that.  Both my EM5 Mkii and EM1 Mkii bodies and my 12-40 f2.8, 40-150 f2.8 and 60mm macro lenses are decently weather proofed and I no longer feel the need to put the camera away.

Of course there are disadvantages.  Water drops get onto the front elements of the lenses and blur the shots; the eyecup and flipout screen make composition and focusing more difficult; the photographer gets wet, cold and miserable; the light is dim; well, the list could go on forever, but the results can make it worthwhile.

Consider this shot.

I was desperate to try out my newly purchased Panasonic 9mm f1.7 for some wide angle shots at The Garden House but it was sheeting down. Cold, wet, late October Dartmoor rain.  Every photographer's dream.  Nonetheless I braved the weather, dashed around the garden and captured a few shots in the pouring rain.  In this case I like the contrast between the more saturated colours of the foreground and the misty trees in the background.

Rain doesn't always give more saturated colours.  At times it gives a more muted palette to the shot, like a faded watercolour..

When it comes to plant portraits one trick that photgraphers use is to lightly spray the plants with water to enhance their freshness.  No need on the south edge of Dartmoor.  If you can see the hills it's going to rain.  If you can't it's raining.  Let the weather do the work to produce shots like these I took on Monday this week

Narcissus 'Mrs Langtree'

This old heritage daffodil (bred before 1869) naturally nods but the weight of the raindrops accentuates the curve of the stems to produce more attractive compositions.

Or consider the next shot of water droplets on teh emerging leaves of the false helleborine, Veratrum album.  I couldn't get that even a distribution with a spray bottle.

With results like these I'm prepared to brave the rain.  Not that I get much choice at the moment, the local weather is dreadful.