S U N R I S E ,   S U N S E T ,   A N D   A F T E R G L O W 

Sunrises and sunsets attract photographers for the simple reason that they produce lots of color and glory for very little technical effort. They also elicit a whole spectrum of emotional responses, from awe to tranquillity to romance. Though they are sometimes viewed as a trite travel subject, don't look such radiant gift horses in the mouth.

When we see a dramatic sky, we tend to point the camera up, excluding the ground entirely, but this is to overlook the potential of the event. Including a simple foreground element not only adds a center of interest but can reveal something of your location and help evoke a particular emotion or mood. A sunset over the water on Cape Cod is pretty, but place a lighthouse in the foreground and you tell a story of a particular place captured at a dramatic instant. For romance, add a hand-holding couple strolling the beach. Remember, though, that most foreground subjects are cast into silhouette when photographed against a bright sky, so look for clean and quickly recognizable shapes.

For sunsets and sunrises, a variety of different exposures will provide acceptable results. Be especially careful to keep the sun out of the frame while you take a meter reading: Aim the lens at a bright area of sky just to the left or right of the sun itself; either set this reading manually, or use your exposure lock to hold the setting and then recompose to include the sun if you want it. With slide films, bracket by at least a full stop over and under this setting for a choice of color saturations.

Don't put your camera away immediately after the sun disappears. On partly cloudy days, especially, the sky may be suddenly and briefly illuminated with color several minutes after the sun has set--the afterglow phenomenon. Expose for afterglow by taking a reading from any area of colorful sky.

I N   T H E   R A I N 

A prediction of rain doesn't have to mean the end to photography. In fact, rain produces unexpected and pleasing picture possibilities. Because it paints smooth surfaces like leaves and pavement with a glossy sheen, it lends landscapes and city street scenes a bright, pearly glow and creates deep, saturated colors. Use a polarizing filter to further saturate colors by removing surface reflections. In the city, especially at twilight or night, puddles and wet pavement transform mundane street scenes into colorful, impressionistic tableaux with reflections of neon signs and other city lights. Bracket your exposures one stop over and under the camera's recommendation.

In heavy downpours the rain itself can become the subject: At shutter speeds of 1/125 or faster you can halt the rain droplets; at slow speeds (1/30 or slower) you can turn them into long diagonal streaks cutting through the frame. Focus falling rain against a dark background to make it stand out.

Whatever the subject, it's important to protect your camera gear. If you don't have someone to hold an umbrella over you, you can carry a few locking plastic bags to use as temporary waterproof housings. With an SLR, just put the camera into the bag, cut a hole for the lens to poke through, and secure the bag to the front rim of the lens barrel with an elastic band. You can jury-rig a similar protection for point-and-shoot cameras; just be sure that the bag doesn't block any exposure or auto-focus windows on the front of the camera. In his book Landscape Photography, noted nature photographer John Shaw offers this unusual tip: Use a shower cap to protect a tripod-mounted camera and lens while you scout locations and then remove it briefly to shoot.

If you're traveling to a place where you're likely to encounter significant rainfall, you might also buy a plastic-bag-type underwater housing (see Under the Sea) for your camera. Alternatively, you can take along a few one-time-use waterproof cameras.

 

 

 

R A I N B O W S 

If there's a silver lining for travelers enduring a rainy morning or afternoon, it's the potential for spotting one of nature's most charming phenomena, a rainbow. Elusive, ethereal, and always cheerful, rainbows can spark a feeling of mystery and romance in even the most jaded of souls.

You may not be able to predict where a rainbow will occur, but you can increase your chance of seeing one by facing away from the sun toward the dark opposing sky after a storm. The best time to plan your rainbow shot is not after but during the storm. Use the rain time to scout around for potential compositions. Pictures of rainbows dangling in an open sky are pretty, but including an interesting foreground (see the photograph of the temple) imparts a sense of scale and place.

Exposure is straightforward. If you're using color negative film, the exposure that the camera sets will be fine; if the rainbow is too light in the final print, ask your lab to redo the shot and darken it up. With slide film, use your camera's exposure-compensation feature to underexpose by a half or a full stop for more saturated color bands. If your camera has a manual exposure system, take a light reading from the sky near the rainbow and then underexpose by a half or a full stop.

Here's a trick even some pros don't know about: Because rainbows are made of myriad tiny droplets of water that are reflecting light, you can use a polarizing filter (see Polarizing Filters) to modulate the intensity of the colors. Simply mount the filter to the front of your SLR lens and, as you rotate it, watch in the viewfinder as the color bands brighten and then fade. Shoot when you see the saturation you want. Beware, though: In the wrong position, the filter will completely erase the colors. Also, polarizers reduce light by about 1 1/3 stops, so you may want to switch to a faster film or mount your camera on a tripod.