In The Academy this week I have been encouraging members to go out and photograph statues.  As luck would have it – it has also been a week when the UK has seen a lot of rain,  So for this week’s blog/newsletter  I thought I would discuss the whole topic of taking your camera out when it’s raining.

Protecting your camera from the elements

Disclaimer: The first thing I need to say is: please apply common sense to this advice.  How much rain any individual camera can withstand depends on a lot of factors.  The build quality, how you protect it and the type of rain.  What I am about to describe is what works for me with my camera.  My aim is to provide advice and for you to take decisions as to how much you are prepared to risk your camera.  If it all goes wrong – I won’t be held responsible.

The bar towel

My favourite bit of kit for protecting my camera from the rain is a bar towel (see picture above).  When I am out in the rain I drape this over the camera.  It provides a number of function firstly it help keep the camera dry, secondly if any sections of the camera body get wet I can quick wipe it dry and thirdly it will tend to wick moisture away from the camera.  If you don’t have a bar towel, a face cloth will work just as well.

Lens Hood

We tend to think of lens hoods as being for preventing lens flare on sunny days.   However, when it is raining they can also help stop rain droplets landing on the lens.  So if you have one put the lens hood on.

Cleaning the lens

A lens hood alone will help but won’t stop all rain drops from getting onto the lens.  For this reason, I keep a lens cloth in a sealable water-tight bag in my pocket.   To clean the lens I hold the such that the lens in facing the floor (so that more rain doesn’t get on it during the cleaning process).  I then wipe the lens with the cloth using a circular motion.  As soon as I am finished I put the lens cap back on the protect the lens from further rain droplets.  In extream conditions, I need to do this before every shot I take.

 

I hope you have found this quick guide to shooting in the rain helpful, so until next week, keep MAKING great photographs,

Ian.

PS Don’t forget – you can currently get 7 weeks membership of Ian’s Studio Photo Academy for just £1.  The Academy brings you weekly inspiration sheets with subjects for you to go and shoot, opportunities to have you images critiqued, and for those who are able to travel to Stockport discounts on Academy events at the Studio.   Click here to find out more and to sign up.