What to shoot on a gloomy day?

If you were looking forward to 3 whole days of glorious spring for taking wonderful outdoor or nature photos, but have been frustrated by the endless cloudy cool and wet days, how can you  still maximize your long weekend to your photographic advantage?

Here are a few things that work for me:

1) go with the flow – the wet landscape has tremendous colour tones because of the way the light reflects of the watery coating everything has.  Ironically, the colours are more “saturated.” So shooting in the wet is link having an automatic LAB color action applied to your pics – so the simple thing to do is just get out and shoot.

2) If there’s some wind, use your polarizer and a neutral density filter combined and shoot some slow shutter shots, of tall grass waving in the breeze, trees swaying in the driving gale; a little creative blur goes a long way and you really can’t get this effect on a bright sunny day.

3) Water droplets macros – what’s more fun than to see the world reflected back in a drop of rainwater.  Plop on your macro lens and get rocking! Water in all its drops and drips can be a mesmerizing subject. Look for non typical angles and try to stay away from the stock photo cliches, unless of course you are shooting for a stock agency!

4) Go where the water lovers go – the ducks, geese etc. love this wet weather so if they congregate at this time of year anywhere near you, go there, use a telephoto to get stunning portraits of waterfowl.  if there are babies among them, don’t get too close – geese are mighty protective and a tad aggressive when it comes to keeping their chick safe.  But the “aw” factor will be great reward for your patience and soaked skin!

5) If it’s really wet (like it is here) go for reflections. The standing water around objects – trees, shrubs, birds, can make amazing abstract photos.  Look for crazy angles, muted colours and patterns in the water.  Reflections are very cool to shoot.  If the water is a little TOO still, take charge and toss a small pebble in there to get the desired ripples.

There you have it. 5 ways to be creative in the rain. Don’t forget to submit your photos to the site to show off your talents.

If you’d rather curl up by the fire in your cabin that’s cool too, I will likely do a bit of both this long weekend. Regardless of what activities you do to launch the summer, have fun and seize the day. it’s all good.

ciao for now.