—Categories: travel photography, Uncategorized

Travel Photography: Protecting Your Camera from Rain

The weekly travel photography section is back again, after a short two-week gap. Read all earlier articles in the series here.

As always, the Travel Photography article has two sections. The first part of today’s article is about protecting your camera in the monsoon season. The second part contains an image review. 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.

In my earlier post on Photographing The Monsoon, Shrinidhi left a comment saying, “pls add some tips on how to protect the camera in rainy season- My fear that camera may get damaged due to water entry forces me not to take out the camera if it is likely to rain.” I would have liked to treat it as a Q&A at the end of an article, but the topic was worth a separate post in itself. Here it goes.

PROTECTING YOUR CAMERA FROM RAIN

Fungus. One of the biggest problem that haunts camera lenses is not caused by the rain itself, but the damp weather. If you keep the cameras and lenses packed away in the closet and wait for the monsoon season to end, you may be surprised to see fungus growing inside the lens. Fungus in the lenses is usually a grey fibrous material that slowly spreads in the inner surface of the lens. It grows in moist weather when the lens is stored for prolonged duration without exposure to light. The simple solution to keep fungus away is to keep using the camera often, instead of tucking it away in a closet during the monsoons.

If you do happen to notice fungus growing in the lens, do not panic. A little bit of it doesn’t make a significant difference to image quality. If you explore the lens to light frequently, the growth of existing fungus will be stunted. If it hasn’t spread too much, fungus may even shrink a bit on continuous exposure to light. But if there is a lot of fungus on the lens surface, it may be time to take the lens to a service center.

Using camera in the rains. I would not go ahead and ask you to expose your cameras freely to the rain, but at the same time, there isn’t a need to worry too much about precipitation. Most cameras are robust enough to let you shoot for a short while in a drizzle. But when you do that, ensure that you wipe the camera free of all the raindrops when you are done shooting. Do not let the water droplets linger on the surface. Don’t stay in the rain for long enough to get the camera completely wet. If you do, water could seep deeper into the body. Avoid exposing the camera in heavy rains. In case you get into a situation where the camera is accidentally prolonged to rains for a long time (or has fallen into water), remove the battery immediately and leave the camera for drying in a warm place. If you are lucky, your camera may function properly again.

Plastic bags. If you are going for long walks or treks in rainy days and intend to carry the camera with you, wrap it in multiple layers of plastic bags, or in a ziplock bag. It can keep your camera safe even if you are getting yourself wet in the rain. That way, when you reach a beautiful location and if the rains have subsided, your camera is dry and ready to work for you.

IMAGE REVIEW

The image below is posted for review by flickr user Guzman Sanchez

ceremonia atardecer

I am struggling to find areas for improvement in this image. There aren’t many I can think of. The positioning of the performer at the right side corner, with smoke moving towards the left works very well in the photograph. Despite being shot at a very low shutter speed(1/5 sec), the image seems to be sharp. The blurred hands are effective in showing motion. The streak of smoke on the top adds well to the image too. The image conveys the overall atmosphere very effectively.

—Categories: travel photography

Thursday Travel Photography #2 – Early mornings

The second in the series on Thursday Travel Photography Column, discussing on the importance of early morning light.

Join India Travel and Photography group on flickr.

I have created a group on flickr, called India Travel and photography for discussions on travel and photography, and to share images and travel stories. Please join the group and share your images from recent trips, and possibly your travel stories along with images.

From next week, I intend to critique one or two images every week as a part of Thursday Travel Photography column, explaining how a photograph can be bettered and/or what makes it stand out, highlighting the technicals and aesthetics related to the image. To have your images critiqued, add your images to the group pool and tag them as itpcritique.

Waking up early in the morning is critical for getting good outdoor shots, especially when you are shooting landscape images. The soft light of the morning hours just before and during the sunrise can bring life to a scenery that may look flat in later hours of the day.

On a cloudy day or in clear summer days, the light just before the sun comes out tends to have a blue tint that works well when you are shooting in mountain landscapes, beach side or other open areas. In winters, the early morning sun on clear days tends to have an orange hue that can bathe the landscape in glorious colors. A gentle fog in the morning can diffuse the light and create magical effects in the landscape, highlighting the contours of the mountains and removing excessive details from the scenery. A few examples:

Grass in the morning light

What could have been an ordinary image of wild grass is transformed into a colourful frame in early morning light, on a winter morning. But such brilliant colors may not occur in summers.

Nandi Hills on a morning

The mild fog in the morning hides the finer details of the plains and highlights just the contour of the mountains in this picture. Also notice the blue tint in the entire frame, which will not occur in the later hours of the day. A similar shot, made in the afternoon would be full of details of the plains, and the emphasis on the hills would be completely lost. Also, the image would have a dull color and would look very flat.

Another important character of the morning light is the angle of the incident light. Because the sun is close to horizon and the light is not harsh, sunlight casts mild shadows in depressions in the landscape. Shadows created by such lighting (normally called side-light) help highlight the texture of the subject and show the depth and help visualize the third dimension in the photograph. Contrary to this, afternoon sun has equal intensity in all areas, be it depressions or crests, making the scenery look flat and two dimensional. Where the afternoon light does cast shadows, the shadows tend to be harsh, which form completely dark areas in the image, making the picture look ugly. An example.

Hills

In the image above, which was shot in early morning hours, the distinction between each layer of mountains is clearly visible, and there is a depth in the image. However in the picture below, which was shot in the same region but in later hours of the day, distinction between the layers of mountains is not as prominent, and the image is not as appealing as the one above.

hills

If you are shooting wildlife, there is another advantage besides the quality of light. Birds tend to be less active in the morning hours and are easier to shoot. You can find some birds, and animals like monkeys in a close huddle in winter mornings, which makes them look appealing, like in the image below.

Bea Eaters

To ask me any questions on morning light or other aspects on photography, to start a discussion or share your images related to the topic, join India Travel and Photography flickr pool, add images and start discussion threads.