How to: raindrops keep falling . . . from the water hose

• Published March 13th, 2010 by Ron Ragan
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I have discovered a simple truth about photography: some of the best picture opportunities are right under your nose if you just look for them.

Take the above photo.  Around sunset today I was walking in our backyard admiring my wife's garden.  Her Knockout Roses are just awesome this year.  She had the water sprinkler going and I noticed the droplets from the sprinkler really created an awesome visual effect when set against the late afternoon sun.

Sensing a good photo-opportunity, I quickly gathered my camera (Canon 50D), slapped on a telephoto zoom lens and dug out my tripod. I set up my gear shooting directly into the roses with the sun behind them, streaming through the water droplets from the sprinkler.

Then, to exaggerate the effect of moving water droplets flying through the air, I used my camera's "Time Value" setting and moved the shutter speed dial to a very slow shutter speed (1/10th of a second).  You really need a tripod to do this successfully. I also positioned my camera so I had a dark background behind the streaming water droplets and the colorful roses.

The picture above is the result.  I also ran a Photoshop filter to add a little artsy effect.

I like taking photos of flowers more than just about anything. 

I photographed this Star Gazer (Lily) with the sunlight backlighting the pedals.  When photographed that way, together with a dark background, flowers really stand out, as opposed to photographing them with the sun on the face of the pedals.

Below, I made this picture in Limuru, Kenya, and utilized the same technique - dark background, backlighted sunlight.

The photo below uses another photo technique, but one that requires a digital imaging program like Photoshop Elements.  I masked the flower and kept its native color while I changed everything else in the photo to black and white.  This effect brings all the focus to the one flower. 

You could use the same technique with a backyard portrait of your child.  Create the portrait in color as normal, mask a bow in her hair or maybe some other subject element, then convert the rest of the picture to black and white.  This is a popular duo-tone technique used in many professional studios.  In our studios we offer it to our clients as "spot-of-color."

Until next time, remember your back yard.  It is a great place to take awesome pictures.