Shooting concerts in the rain

 

 

I will start off this tutorial with a strong warning: Do not shoot in the rain unless you have a professional camera with strong weather sealing and a lens with weather sealing. If you shoot in the rain and your camera is not weather-sealed, you will destroy it. Even if your camera is said to have weather sealing, go online and read what other people are saying about the camera’s weather sealing. Additionally, your lens needs weather sealing as well. Water can get into your camera from the lens mount unless the lens has a rubber gasket to seal it off. I must repeat this: make sure your gear can handle this. Don’t take any chances. I shoot a lot of festivals in the rain and I never have problems with my Nikon, but I see many Canon 5D Mark II and III cameras fail in the rain. So be careful. A camera that gets wet inside typically needs to have its electronics replaced, and that can be expensive. Don’t try shooting in the rain unless you are 100% positive about your camera’s abilities.

 

 

Now, if you have the right equipment to shoot in the rain, you can get some great photos. The first thing you need to do is keep a lens cloth in your pocket. If your lens does get some water on the front element, you can clean it off as soon as possible. The second thing you want to do is shoot with your widest aperture. The wide aperture will help if you get any water on the front element.

The idea with shooting in the rain is to get a light source behind the raindrops and the artist. The lights will bounce off the rain and give many raindrops a small halo effect, which can look awesome if you get the angle right. The light source can be stage lights or the sun—it doesn’t matter as long as it is behind the artist and the raindrops you are shooting into.

When shooting in the rain, make sure you are using your lens hood to protect the front element from raindrops. I would recommend using a longer lens for this. The 70-200mm lens usually has a deep lens hood, providing more protection from the rain.

A second advantage when shooting in heavy rain is that many amateur photographers will leave the pit since their gear cannot handle the wet weather. This means the pit usually gets very quiet, giving you a lot of free space to shoot from and many free angles.

 

 

If you need to check your lens front element for water drops, pick your camera up so that the back of the camera goes up in the air, and you are looking into the lens from the bottom. Don’t check the lens from the side, as water can get onto the front element that way. Shooting in the rain is easy, and if you can get the light source behind the artist and the rain, the photos can look great.

 

 

The last bit of advice for shooting in the rain is about editing. When editing your photos, you need to add a bit more shadow detail and clarity than you normally do to bring out the raindrops, but not too much. I usually use about 10% more shadow detail and clarity on a rain shot. If you are at a festival and it starts to rain, don’t be one of the photographers who go to find shelter. You will not melt in the rain. Get out there and shoot a little, and see what results you can get. I have never shot in the rain and walked away disappointed, though I have always had to buy new shoes afterward.

 

 

Shaun