Making Something Beautiful Out Of Rainy Days With Still Life Photography

This autumn I created two small series of rainy pictures. It’s time for maple leaves, rowan berries and, of course, raindrops!
First one is about the world distorted by rain drops on a window. I always loved that kind of images you get if you put some oil or petrolatum on a sheet of glass and shoot something colorful through it. But at the same time I wanted to see the composition itself (or at least part of it) without distortion — just out of curiosity. It seems, I’ve finally found a natural way to do it:

— take a sheet of glass, fix it on the foreground with clamps, arrange a simple composition outside a focus range;

— place the lights: one speedlight behind and below the scene (so the glass will be in backlight), another speedlight on the left side (to soften the shadows);
— set them on low power, so you can create a very short impulse and freeze the drops in motion;
— finally, pour some water and take a picture.

Second one is about watercolors, wet soil, fallen leaves and the fact that I don’t so much like raindrops as love the light on the surface of puddles and wet pavement. Those highlights and reflections are just mesmerizing. As Granny Aching said, every stick is a wand, every puddle is a crystal ball. Maybe that’s why I can’t stop shooting all that spilled water.

Rainy day: Morning tea

Rainy day: Autumn begins

Rainy day: Watercolor sketches

Work in progress