Rainy day ideas

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Paul
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Well it's raining yet again here and was hopping too get out and play with camera today :(. Anyone got any tips for an in door project (don't have a macro lens by the way)
 
Water droplets :)
Got any lego figures? :)
Have you got a flash? Could do some low key bits an bobs as well.
 
Rainy Days are ideal for setting up a little light tent and doing some stock photography for stock sites, keeps you busy and also earns a few quid if you are lucky..
 
A reply I made a while ago to a similar request :)

Not normally popular when I suggest it but think about Still Life.
You can arrange the objects to give good composition, choose the colours to create harmony or to clash. Move everything around so that the light is from a different direction, diffuse the light, reflect the light. Try different focal lengths at the same, and different, distances. Underexpose, overexpose by different amounts to see the effect. Experiment with different apertures for DoF. Change the ISO to use small apertures at shutter speeds where you can hand hold the camera without shake, check the amount of noise when using high ISO etc.
While doing all that you do not have to worry that the subject is moving, or will disappear.
It really is worthwhile because once you have the subject set up you are no longer worried about getting a good/great picture, it is all about playing and learning.
 
I agree with Kev - in fact I have an idea of trying to reproduce some of the 'masters' lol. The Big Yin does some brilliant still life with skulls a la Vanitas see here
 
there's Winchester cathedral crypt - you especially need rain for that :)
 
I'm just in the middle of playing with a roasting tin, tin foil, coloured card and a straw.......just got to dump the pics onto the mac as the card is full, then back off to annoy the wife in the kitchen:lol:

I'll stick up some results later....
 
Pastyman - got a shot of how you set that up or care to explain ?

1 x roasting tin lined with tin foil ( i tried it to bounce light back up from the base of the tin) and full of water, one piece of green and one piece of red card stood vertically behind the tin.

Flash off camera and fired with a radio trigger in manual 1/32 or 1/64 power and fired toward the card to reflect the colour onto the water.

Used a drinking straw to produce the drops, simply dip the end of the straw into the water, put your finger on the other end, and the water will stay in the straw. Let your finger go to release the water, either bit by bit, or in a stream. It's then just a matter of repeating several hundred times to get the good shots. I took 1200 in this session!!!!

Camera was fired with remote trigger too, on a tripod.

Manual focus onto the end of the straw at a point, say halfway into the tin, and try to drop the drips in that zone, I think I was in manual, F8 (should have been smaller really), 1/250 sec, ISO 200.

Just keep messing with shutter speed and flash power/direction of fire and check the results (god, listen to me, anyone would think I know what I'm doing).

It was good fun, and as a bonus, really hacked the wife off:lol:
 
Last edited:
pastyman said:
1 x roasting tin lined with tin foil ( i tried it to bounce light back up from the base of the tin) and full of water, one piece of green and one piece of red card stood vertically behind the tin.

Flash off camera and fired with a radio trigger in manual 1/32 or 1/64 power and fired toward the card to reflect the colour onto the water.

Used a drinking straw to produce the drops, simply dip the end of the straw into the water, put your finger on the other end, and the water will stay in the straw. Let your finger go to release the water, either bit by bit, or in a stream. It's then just a matter of repeating several hundred times to get the good shots. I took 1200 in this session!!!!

Camera was fired with remote trigger too, on a tripod.

Manual focus onto the end of the straw at a point, say halfway into the tin, and try to drop the drips in that zone, I think I was in manual, F8 (should have been smaller really), 1/250 sec, ISO 200.

Just keep messing with shutter speed and flash power/direction of fire and check the results (god, listen to me, anyone would think I know what I'm doing).

It was good fun, and as a bonus, really hacked the wife off:lol:

Great info, I spent the day making a DIY softbox
 
1 x roasting tin lined with tin foil ( i tried it to bounce light back up from the base of the tin) and full of water, one piece of green and one piece of red card stood vertically behind the tin.

Flash off camera and fired with a radio trigger in manual 1/32 or 1/64 power and fired toward the card to reflect the colour onto the water.

Used a drinking straw to produce the drops, simply dip the end of the straw into the water, put your finger on the other end, and the water will stay in the straw. Let your finger go to release the water, either bit by bit, or in a stream. It's then just a matter of repeating several hundred times to get the good shots. I took 1200 in this session!!!!

Camera was fired with remote trigger too, on a tripod.

Manual focus onto the end of the straw at a point, say halfway into the tin, and try to drop the drips in that zone, I think I was in manual, F8 (should have been smaller really), 1/250 sec, ISO 200.

Just keep messing with shutter speed and flash power/direction of fire and check the results (god, listen to me, anyone would think I know what I'm doing).

It was good fun, and as a bonus, really hacked the wife off:lol:

Thanks Pastyman...
 
You're welcome, the next time I have a play, I'll take a shot of the setup and post it up..
 
..and thanks from me too Darrin - I'll try a similar thing when we next get rain. I so often struggle for inspiration but once trying one thing often find that other ideas come into my head.
 
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