Travel Photography: Photographing Monsoons
Monsoons have just hit the southern parts of the country. Let’s look at ways to make best use of the cloudy and rainy days in this week’s Travel Photography column.
As always, the second part of this article has weekly image reviews. If you would like to have your images reviewed to know what worked well and how it could have been improved, choose some of your best images and post them on group pool of India Travel and Photography. Don’t forget to tag them as itpcritique, so they can be chosen for review. You can also post your questions related to photography as a comment to this post, or in India Travel and Photography group discussion. I will answer them in next week’s article.
PHOTOGRAPHING MONSOONS
In my first few years of taking up photography seriously, monsoon season was the time to pack the camera and store it in the closet. The sky would be overcast through the season. It rained on and off, and I was at loss in thinking of opportunities for photography. At the end of the season when the rains subsided, I would invariably end up with fungus growing merrily in the unattended lenses. But over the next few years, I saw the joy in photographing even in rainy days. Here are some of my observations on getting the best from the camera in the wet season.
1. Keep the sky out
Overcast sky is not a great subject. More often than not the sky gets burnt and the details are lost. If that doesn’t happen, colours in rest of the image tend to appear dull. It is hard to get good exposure and quality images when sky becomes a part of the image in bad weather. Just keep the sky out of the frame and look for opportunities on the ground. This is the season when everything looks lush, alive and beautiful. Lookout for the smaller, interesting subjects than focusing on the grand landscapes. On a wet day, you will notice that the colours are rich and beautiful, and even mundane things can look pretty.
The image below is an example of how rich the colours can it get. The picture was taken on a day when it rained on and off and remained foggy through the day. You can see the fog behind the trees in the picture.
2. Capture the flow of water
This is the ideal time to photograph waterfalls and streams. Just head to the nearest forest and walk along a stream in search of your opportunities. Good pictures are not hard to come by if you are willing to spend a lot of time working on the compositions. It helps to carry a tripod to give a frozen look to the waterfalls (more about it in later chapters).
3. Walk into the fog
It took me a few years to realize that fog offers some great opportunities for photography. At a closer range, fog can be cleverly used to create some interesting images of shapes. Often it is the outline that matters in such weather, not the details. Get into a wooded place and look for interesting shapes and structures. See the example below.
Sometimes, low lying fog can help make the landscape look surreal in the morning hours. Make sure you are up early in the morning and waiting at a vantage point to see (and photograph) such a beauty.
4. Look at people
This is not an area that I have spent time working on, but I have seen some beautiful images of celebrating the rains. Opportunities are many, like people looking up to the sky, wind harassing the umbrellas, little kids walking to school in raincoats,.. Life offers unlimited opportunities. Personally, I have found it difficult to capture people in the rains. Do you have any tips and experiences? Do share them in the comments section.
IMAGE REVIEWS
The image below is posted for review by flickr user JHarris2009
The moment is just right, and the timing of this photograph is perfect. The gentle bluish light around the performers on the floor works well. The picture is exposed properly, despite the possibility of getting an overexposed image in the dark background. One problem area I see is the shadows on the man’s face, especially on the eyes. Also, it looks like the image was shot from a side. It could have been bettered by shooting from a position in line with the performers.
If you would like to have your images reviewed to know what worked well and how it could have been improved, choose some of your best images, post them on group pool of India Travel and Photography and tag them as itpcritique. Only tagged images are taken for reviewing. You can also post your questions related to photography as a comment to this post or in India Travel and Photography group discussion. I will answer them in next week’s article.