Exercise 34 Cloudy Weather and Rain

There are three section of this exercise.

1) Take 4-6 photographs of the same view in sunlight and under cloud

It is rare to have bright sunny day that is stable in England. So I will start with this one near Blackfaire station. F/4 at 1/1600s.

As soon as the cloud comes, the exposure time drops to 1/500s, also at f/4

The weather condition is not getting particularly better as the day progress. Now we are at 1/320s at f/4.

Question: so does the cloudy shot looks more "blue" as the assignment suggested? Only slightly, and somehow it is hard to make a good judgement with naked eye. One can argue that the building in the photo in the middle does look slightly cooler than the first one, and the third one is cooler than the second one. But only slightly.

To make my point clearer. Here is St Paul shot across the river. The first one was shot in the morning, and the second one is shot at the evening. If I only use naked eye to judge, somehow the second one looks warmer. Why? The angle of the sun shinning through the building lights up both the Millennium bridge and five a less dark grey colour. I think this exercise doesn't work as well, unless all other external condition is fixed.

Anyway, move on. The exercise suggests that we find two images in our library that is taken in cloudy day and it won't be better if it is taken on a sunny day.

Well, this is difficult, given that I am a manic who like to shoot in the bright sunny day. To make it worse, I shoot into the sun. There are exception. I think no one will recommend doing a portraiture under harsh sunlight (well, well, we saw it in Saatchi gallery in the last study day). For example this:

I have never done food photography properly. This is not cloudy day, but indoor shot. I think sometime people use sun to create some atmosphere. But for this shot, I prefer not to have some sort of bright sunlight because my main subject is food, not atmosphere.

I need to cook more often. Eating out too often just make me fat.

Now to the second part of the exercise.

2) Take three photographs outdoor on an overcast day. Look for the type of subject with strong colour and another one with strong detail.

How about that "every little helps" store? Very strong colour that you can see a mile off.

Actually, I prefer colour under bright day light, but with this type of orange, it doesn't look as dull in an overcast day.

Here is some structure with more details.

And do we count rain drop as part of the details?

3) Take two photographs in the rain

I don't think this is exactly an inspiration. When I miss my train, I usually wonder around the station and take photographs. Guess what, I shoot in the rain often due to total boredom.