Depending on the season and the location, rainbows can be a rather regular sight. I once heard that Hawaiians boasted that their tropical state had at least one per day. Here on eastern Long Island they are not quite that common, but this summer and fall, there have been more sightings, and photos, than usual it seems. Capturing them in a compelling photograph is not an easy task, however. The successful photographer must be ready at a moment’s notice.
Finding the rainbow is half the task. Your camera settings need to take in to account the variable light, and the relatively flat colors of the rainbow. I have the best success when I under expose by almost a full stop, and shoot raw, if your camera has that capability. If not, you’ll be ok. You also need a narrow aperture to have a deep depth of field. Use Aperture priority, set it to f/16 and find a steady spot to stand. Oh, and be ready to do some post-processing. Almost never great straight out of the camera, and if you want to get the whole rainbow, you will likely need to make a panorama.
So here are my two efforts. First image is one of the shot of the right side of the rainbow. I used Lightroom to boost saturation, crop out the junk and also boosted the black point a tad to make it pop.
The second image is a panorama of two shots-merged in Photoshop CS5. After the merge, I did the exposure and color adjustments. I used a levels adjustment layer to get the rainbow just right and then put a black to transparent gradient on it so the effect applies to the rainbow but not the rest of the image. When shooting for a panorama, it is critical that you don’t change your position or the angle of the camera. Just plant your feet and then pivot at the hip to capture the scene in as many images as needed. The fewer the better for rainbows, I find.
Double Rainbow over Goose Creek
So have a look and let us know what you think! If you have any favorite rainbow images of your own, post the link and let us check them out!
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