DIY Photoprojects - Sunset through the rain

Click the image to enlarge



When i saw the setting sun through the sliding glass door covered with rain drops on my patio, i could sense a wonderful photo op presenting itself. I would call this a photographer's delight in a week where the Southland is being soaked by series of heavy winter storms.

I've had several people appreciate this image so i figured I'll post a tutorial on creating this image without the main element 'rain' by replacing it with an alternate way to create the effect. Although i shot this image with my point and shoot Olympus C750UZ, I'm sure you'll get better results with an SLR or a DSLR.

Apart from a good view of the sunset, here is what you'll need:

SPRAY BOTTLE -fill it with a cup of water.
SMALL SHEET OF GLASS - preferably from any photo frame i e., if you don't have access to a glass window through which you could view the sunset, not forgetting the liberty to spray some water on it too :)

If you are using a glass sheet you may need to provide support so it stays vertical, try to keep wooden blocks or books to keep the balance. Do use a cling wrap to protect the book from water. Use the spray bottle and spray water on the other side of the glass sheet facing the sunset view and not your camera. Now align the frame on your cam's viewfinder so you could see the sunset through the glass sheet. I used "Macro" feature in my cam to shoot this image. Alternately, you could keep the point of focus on the foreground [in this case, water droplets] so the sunset which is in the background goes out of focus and you'll get the same effect as in the above image.
Another interesting aspect is, depending on the efficiency of your cam you may get a clear "flipped view" of the background [sunset] in each droplet. My low end cam was unable to capture the same but I'm sure you'll get better results with a DSLR.

Hope you find this post helpful. If you have any questions or if you give it a shot do leave a comment here with the link to your post, I'd love to view your version.


PS: Post Processing - Cropped and added "Texture" using Paint Shop Pro.