Cloudy Weather and Rain

The topmost image is taken in sunlight whilst the lower of the two images is taken with cloud obscuring the sun. The camera was set at AV and an ISO of 500 allowing the camera to set the shutter speed. Both were shot at f11. In the case of the sunny image the shutter speed was 1/640 whilst the cloudy image has shutter speed of 1/320. As predicted in the text the cloudy picture has a slight blue cast probably most noticeable in the blocks of the wall. Of these two images I prefer the cloudy shot as there is more definition of the texture of the materials photographed.

As asked I checked through my library of photographs but could not say with any certainty that any taken on cloudy days would not have been better taken in sunlight. I found it almost impossible to replace the actual image in front of me with one created by my imagination. I found that the response evoked by any particular image clouded any judgement that I could make.

All three images were taken on a very overcast day with a light drizzle making conditions less than ideal.

In the case of the tree trunk the amount of detail is surprisingly high given the conditions. I anticipated that the definition would have been muted by the shadowless light and in part this is true although not to the extent that I expected. PiPi is a fairly uniform grey and there is a softness about the image that is both pleasing and effective in bringing out the texture of the dominant subject. The leaves of the tree appear in the photograph to be very muted compared with what one sees in nature. 

The tree is a good illustration of the difficulty I found in deciding whether an image is 'better' in sunlight or taken on an overcast day. In sunlight the leaves of the tree are vivid and display a range of yellows and greens but here the muting of the colours by the overcast light has a pleasing, gentling (is that a word?) effect that I find attractive.

These two images were taken on different days from my back garden. The top one is looking to the north-east whilst the lower one is looking almost directly east. The first shows almost the whole spectrum of colour  whilst the second is a shot of the 'end' of the rainbow (no crock of gold found!!). I particularly like the second because of the happy coincidence of the electricity pylon that is silhouetted against the vivid red and oranges, whilst the putative rainbow can just be discerned as though that of a rocket trail.

As you can probably guess from my rather colourful prose I have a thing about photography in the rain or the period immediately after when there is a clarity of light that is well worth suffering the discomfort of the rain or drops from the trees trickling down the back of your neck.