Photographing gardens and flowers in the rain
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| Misty conditions in The Garden House Quarry Garden in pouring rain |
There's a local saying (or possibly I made it up) that describes Dartmoor and its environs. "If you can see the hills it's going to rain. If you can't it's raining." West Devon gets a lot of rain. Prevailing westerlies bring it in from the Atlantic on a regular basis, sometimes for days or even weeks on end. Which means that I frequently have to photograph flowers and gardens in the rain if I'm to get the regular weekly shots I need for social media posts for The Garden House.
Equipment isn't the problem. My Olympus/OM systems garden gear is weatherproofed and I have no qualms in using it in even pouring rain. Just take plenty of dry lens cloths to keep the front of the lens clear..
The problem is the quality and quantity of the rain. Heavy rain is generally a no go. The light is dreary, vegetation is flattened, flowers bend under the weight of raindrops and, of course, it's physically unpleasant for the poor photographer. Yes it's possible to get shots - the Quarry Garden image above is an example - but it's not one I enjoyed taking.
Better is lighter rain, particularly when imparting a misty background to more distant parts of the image.
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| Misty background in a view across the lake |
Best of all is light, misty rain (mizzle down here in Devon). The light is soft, saturating colours, while the fine droplets of rain don't weigh down flowers and vegetation but apply a sparkling sheen to everything while still giving a misty background.
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| Misty rain in The Acer Glade |
Similar considerations apply to flower portraits. It is possible to get good shots in heavy rain, as illustrated by this shot of Sagittaria and Aponogetum in a lake.
But that was special case. Aquatics aren't really bothered by rain.
More likely is that during and even after heavy rain the outlines of flowers will blur, especially ones with more complex floral structures. Though it can look good on foliage, as with this Begonia 'Red Robin', out for its summer holiday.
It's certainly possible to shake the excess water off the flower(s) - but is it worth it when the raindrops produce an attractive patterning to the image. The only problem with shots like these is specular highlights on the drops. These can be dodged out in post if they cause a problem but it does add an extra step to the processing workflow.
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| Galanthus 'Das Gelb von Ei' |
Shaking off the excess water isn't always possible. I'd been eyeing up this more distant snowdrop shot while the rain was falling but it was inaccessible. I had to return later after the rain had stopped and a breeze had removed the excess moisture before I could take it. There are still enough drops on the petals to make it an effective rain shot but not enough to bow the snowdrop heads or blur the flower features.
Best of all is when conditions are just right, with soft, misty rain that allows micro droplets to gather on the surface of petals...
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| Moraea alticola |
...rim the edge of a bloom...
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| Stewartia sinensis |
...or coat the protruding stamens of this white Azalea.
In the rain photography of plants and gardens has its discomforts. We've all known the dubious pleasure of rain running down the back of our neck. But to get shots that stand out a little suffering is worthwhile. Isn't it?
