Sunday 19 December 2010

Rain

This was a bit of a tricky one, firstly because we’ve had no rain and nothing but snow for ages! And also because the one day we have had rain recently I was at work so only had a half hour lunch break to grab some shots! That said I did try experimenting with some other ideas that I could achieve without having to wait around for a dull rainy day.

The task was to get a shot which would be suitable as a magazine cover based on the title of Rain. I needed to look at ways that it would come across in a strong image that was original yet still would be recognisable for the subject it was about.

So to start with, seeing as real rain was far from on its way I tried a few ideas at home. I wanted to get a really fun image of someone jumping in puddles, so proceeded to try and flood the front garden, but the ground just kept soaking everything up! I did get a few rough shots but nothing I thought was worthy enough.

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They didn’t really conjure up the idea of rain at al, more one of farmers wellies in a muddy spot! The only thing I was fairly pleased about was the capture of the movement of the water.

After this I tried a few different ideas in the bath with the shower running. I felt these were slightly more successful.

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These were taken with a piece of clear perspex laid in the bath and the shower running over it to try and catch the droplets and the splashes it made.

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I liked this one a little more than the others as the darker patch in the background picks up on the droplets of water. I do like the effect of the droplets, but they needed to have something behind them, like seeing through a window to give a better impression.

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I tried using a piece of an old blue shower curtain behind the perspex  and a blue filter to try to pick out the droplets a little more.

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I also used the built in flash on the camera to try to add a shimmer to the water.

On the day it finally did rain I dashed out on a lunch break so didn’t really have enough time to walk around and capture anything I thought was particularly striking. I took a few abstract shots:

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Neither of them really screamed ‘rain’ at me but I like the way the droplets were the centre of attention.

I tried to get some street shots, but I found the rain wasn’t really all that heavy so everything just looked a little damp and I was hoping for more of a downpour for a dramatic impact!

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I really like the shot of the lights reflected on the pavement, just a shame that more rain or water isn’t apparent. The other shots are more obvious what the weather condition is like as the use of props such as umbrellas symbolises this easily. I was looking for something that had a symbol but also a but more movement of the actual water itself to really amplify the meaning behind the photo.

In the end I played around with a couple of the photos with text overlaid on it too look like a magazine cover to see how it would work:

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I guess in the end it depends on the context in how the image is being used determines how successful it will be at getting the message across to the viewer. By choosing to talk about rain and society, the inclusion of people in the photography really backs up the message.