Rain in Maine? I Fain Remain!

[canyonwalker]

Maine Week Travelog #24
Sandy River, ME - Saturday, 19 Jun 2021, 2:30pm.

While we were exploring the upper parts of Smalls Falls today it started to rain. I got lots of pictures while it was still sunny; see previous blog. When the rain blew in fast the fun times were over... for most people, but not for me! As everyone else was scurry to get off the rocks, out of the water, and to shelter, I was enjoying photographing the area in a new light.



I do mean new light literally. A heavily clouded sky casts light of a different color on things below. But even more important than that, it casts less light. With less light I can set my camera to use a slower exposure. With a slower exposure I can create motion blur. One type of motion is flowing water. Less light = longer exposure times = these silky ribbons of water that are a fun photographic effect to create.

Staying out in the rain was not only awesome for taking cool pictures like the one above, it felt awesome being the one person not scurrying for cover. It was like I had a superpower to withstand water. ...Which is funny, because so many people who were fleeing the rain were wearing swimsuits and were deliberately getting wet in the water. Why are they afraid of a little rain?



Alas I was not wearing a swimsuit... but I had a rain jacket in the car, so I went back to put that on. I also grabbed my tripod, to assist with taking slow-exposure pictures. In the first pic I braced the camera against a tree. There were no trees in the basin at the bottom, so that's where I used my tripod instead.

And again, it was amusing that a bit of water falling from the sky chased out all the people dressed in swimsuits soaking themselves in the water. With my rain jacket keeping my top half dry and sandals on my feet I had no worries about walking out through the water to get the right picture. In the shot above I am standing on a shoal.... I walked through the water to get to it then picked shallow rocks to stand on because the water is cold to stand in for 10 minutes while taking pictures!



Here's an example of the kind of picture I got in the rain, standing in the middle of the water, with my camera on a tripod. Notice how the water looks like silk curtains— that's an effect of motion blur— while the rocks and trees are sharply in focus because the camera is stabilized on a stand.

I couldn't take these pictures when the sun was out because there was too much light. With the sun behind rainclouds this opportunity arose. I could have simulated the reduction in light with a darkening filter on my lens... I do have some such filters, but they're for the lens I accidentally a few days ago. 😨

Comments

[ihavenoarms]

looks nice