Today’s Post by Joe Farace
The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.—Dolly Parton
There are a few photographers who want to venture out in the rain, afraid that their cameras and lenses, or perhaps their own delicate selves, will be damaged. (Look what it did to the witch in the Wizard of Oz.) But don’t be afraid of getting wet. You can always cover your camera with my old stand-by shower cap that most decent (anyway) hotels provide in each room. This cheapie solution was a big help on my trip to Japan and kept a Canon Digital Rebel dry between shoots in and around a rainy Tokyo.
For a little more substantial solution, like shooting during the downpour during a past US Grand Prix at Indianapolis, you can use one of the Rainsleeves (several sizes are available) that from Op/Tech USA. These are must-have accessories for outdoor photographers, giving you protection from rain, sand and snow yet easily fit in a pocket or camera bag. Rainsleeves feature an eyepiece opening that adapts to most camera viewfinders, allowing composition of shots through the camera’s lens, not through the plastic. And all camera and lens controls are easily seen and operated through it.
If you’re shooting with the camera mounted on a tripod, consider attaching an umbrella to that three-legged necessity. This is easy to do with one of the many Manfrotto clamps also available.
How I Made this Shot: I was photographing practice (and later the race) at the penultimate US Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Speedway in the pouring rain. Yes, I got soaking wet but the weather sealed Olympus E-1 and weather sealed 50-200mm f/4.9 lens held up better than I did. Exposure was 1//320 sec at f/8 and ISO 400.
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat Joe to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here. And if you do, many thanks.
Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography that’s available from Amazon for $21.50 with used copies starting around eight bucks., as I write this. No Kindle version is available, sorry.