Shooting Birds in the Rain

Living in The Netherlands has one big downside to it…rain…rain and more rain.

Often I do not want to go out and shoot anything when it’s raining again like many of you will recognise. But lately I have been trying to take advantage of the bad weather by going out and hoping to shoot some different images. The atmosphere of a rainstorm or just a few drops of rain can really give a photograph a whole new dimension.

Of course shooting in bad weather has its downsides as it can affect your material. So the first rule of shooting in the rain is to protect your gear as best as possible! You can buy yourself a special raincover to protect your lens and camera, but in my case I just use a large plastic bag which covers my lens and camera in a cheap but effective way. Another thing I would recommend is to buy a neoprene (camouflage pattern) lens cover, such as the ones being sold in the NatureScapes.net store. I use these covers not only for bad weather purposes but also to keep my lenses protected from scratching on the outside. In bad weather they will provide you with some extra protection against water getting into your lens. Second, I would advise you to wear some water resistant clothing or make sure you are inside a hide which will protect you from the elements and prevent you from catching a cold.

Third, I would like to advise you to make sure you put some lubricant on the screws of your tripod in order to protect them from the water, and use some silicone-spray on the tripod legs which will help keep water out of the tripod-legs. When you come back home, make sure you check all your gear for water and do not keep a wet camera or lens in your bag!

When you want to catch some raindrops in your image it is important to make sure you have a fast enough shutter speed. This often means keeping your f-number somewhere between f/4 and f/6.3 coupled to a high ISO number of around 400-640 as in bad weather it is often dark and shutter speeds tend to get long. This will provide you with a nice smooth background and enough speed to capture the raindrops falling down.

Besides shooting from a hide I also go out by car when it’s raining. It’s a great way to approach animals especially when the weather is bad and they are less vigilant. When I am out with my car in a rainstorm I always bring the plastic bag for lens protection and a dry towel as the inside of my car will get a little wet every now and then. Often I will look for a bird that is approachable and just park the car within shooting range. Then I will take a few pictures during a rainstorm but the best light will present itself between the rainstorms and that is the right moment to take your shot.

In most cases I will try to get a shot when it’s just started raining or in mild rainstorms as I don’t like it when my subject is soaking wet and looking like a drowned bird. Sometimes, however, this will work well to emphasize the weather as in the case of this Buzzard Hawk which I shot between a few rainstorms.