While many people choose to stay indoors on rainy days, gray skies and damp conditions can provide the perfect canvas for some great-looking shots. The key is knowing what to shoot when it’s wet and raining.
1Reflections
Due to the abundance of water (both on the ground and falling out of the sky) when it’s raining, reflections are everywhere you look. So, rainy days are the perfect opportunity to shoot photos with the reflection of something as the main focus of the shot.
Look forsubjects that will benefit from being shot in reflection. This includes buildings with old or interesting facades, interesting-shaped trees, things that make contextual sense in reflection (such as boats and ships), and people dressed for the wet weather.
After heavy rainfall, puddles will form everywhere, including in the most unexpected places. As well as being the potential source of a reflection, puddles can be a great subject for a photo in their own right. After all, what sums up a rainy day more than the unexpected pooling of water?
The key thing to remember is that puddles are only present in wet weather, so you need to shoot either while it’s raining or immediately after to capture their fleeting existence. And the fact that they will form differently every time it rains means that the same spot can produce very different photos throughout the year.
3Raindrops Falling and Landing
Raindrops themselves can be a great subject to shoot. Whether you tilt your camera up into the sky to capture them falling down on you, or aim your camera at the surface on which they’re falling. Either way, the bigger the raindrops, the more impressive the shot will be.
One of my favorite photos to experiment with on rainy days is to shoot straight up into a canopy of trees. The canopy provides enough cover to ensure that you (and your phone) don’t get too wet, but also provides an interesting view as the rain falls through the gaps in the trees.
4Splashes of Water
While splashes of water can be difficult to capture (especially with a smartphone camera), the results can be very impressive if you manage it. The key is finding a subject that benefits from water splashing onto it.
While both puddles and bodies of water are worthy rainy-day subjects in their own right, they’re also the obvious choice for capturing splashes. Raindrops will also create splashes when landing on textured objects, such as leaves and objects of human origin.
5Mist and Fog
When moisture is abundant in the atmosphere, mist and fog may form on either side. These conditions can provide a great mood-setter for photos, if you knowhow to take photos in mist or fog. Rainy days are often gray and miserable, so your photos should reflect that overall vibe.
One of my favorite things to do on a rainy day is head for the hills (while making sure it’s safe) and shoot down into valleys where the fog is collecting. In post-editing, you can add a black-and-white filter to these shots to really lean into the dark, dreary mood you’re trying to reflect.
6Raincoats and Umbrellas
While you may be the only person standing outside shooting photos with your smartphone in the rain, you’re unlikely to be the only person outside, period. So, try to capture the day’s mood by including the other people braving the weather in your rainy photo sessions.
This should be easy if you live in a city rather than the countryside. Regardless of the weather, people will continue to go about their daily business. And if you position yourself well, you should be able to capture some glorious shots of people holding umbrellas, rushing to find cover, or even being splashed by a passing car.
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7Bodies of Water
Another solid option on rainy days is toshoot bodies of watersuch as lakes, rivers, or even the sea. This is because they all look more impressive on rainy days. Why? Because the abundance of water, both at ground level and falling from the sky, gives the photos a certain quality that cannot be replicated.
One of my favorite places to shoot on wet days is a local reservoir. If it isn’t windy, then the water is perfectly flat. So, once you add in raindrops breaking the surface and potentially some mist in the background, the photos can start to look almost otherworldly.
8The Calm Before or After the Storm
Last but not least is the potential to get great shots by shooting in the calm before or after the rain rolls in. Where I’m based in the UK, the weather can turn in an instant, with sunny skies giving way to threatening clouds within a matter of minutes. And these changes can make for some gloriously atmospheric photos.
The same is true after the rain has stopped. Everything will have a sheen of moisture as if the world has been washed clean. There may be puddles and standing water, or even (after the heaviest rainfall) water running down the street. Again, these offer more opportunities to capture unique images.
The next time it’s raining, don’t crawl back under the covers feeling sorry for yourself. Instead, grab your phone (and some wellies) and venture out to shoot some photos. You may be pleasantly surprised at the kinds of shots you’re able to capture in the wet.
