Raining during events

[iRaphael]

When it rains during events, maybe drizzle or slight rain, what do you do?

especially if your camera is not weather proof?

I know I could get a rain cover and continue shooting, but what happens if i dont have that at that time?

i only shot with my 70-300 and tried to see what i can do.

but what do you guys normally do when it rains?

 

[Headshotzx]

Hide in sheltered area & shoot. Or try to get someone you know who will stick by you and shelter you with big umbrella while you shoot the event.

 

[catchlights]

are you paid to shoot or just shoot for fun?

if you are paid, deliver what you suppose to deliver,

if you are shooting for fun, time to go for a hot coffee.

 

[Prismatic]

I always have one of those cheap 50 cents raincoat. Or two, so I can use the other one for the camera. They are small and light so quite easy to pack a couple into the camera bag.

 

[FilterFunk]

MCQ for you.
a. do nothing
b. go lim kopi
c. use plastic bag/cover/protection
d. find shelter
e. do whatever you think is appropriate

 

[Churchwolf]

I use some shower caps that I took with me from various hotels. They work really well and they have an elastic band around the bottm that keep them over the camera even if wind is blowing. Very convenient and cheap!

 

[racoon31e]

If you have a handkerchief with you, open it up, place it over the lens and continue shooting ;p

 

[iRaphael]

it wasnt a paid event, but somehow i felt that i needed to do something instead of just shooting people in the rain. LOL.

man. do you guys shoot in the rain if you're using a weatherproof camera and lens?

 

[catchlights]

it wasnt a paid event, but somehow i felt that i needed to do something instead of just shooting people in the rain. LOL.

man. do you guys shoot in the rain if you're using a weatherproof camera and lens?

even it is a paid job, I will tell my customer can not shoot, unless they want to see the rain drops all over the place in the photos,
and pay my medical bill if I get sick, camera & lenses repair cost and also rental cost for replacement camera and lenses.

 

[iRaphael]

thats a good suggestion. thanks.

and yes, the rain really makes the pictures look pretty bad.

 

[mrchua]

get the think tank photo hydrophobia protection thingy..

 

[calebk]

get the think tank photo hydrophobia protection thingy..

That's only for super telephoto lenses man. Sorry. :bsmilie:

 

[janshim]

even it is a paid job, I will tell my customer can not shoot, unless they want to see the rain drops all over the place in the photos,
and pay my medical bill if I get sick, camera & lenses repair cost and also rental cost for replacement camera and lenses.

For a paid event, refusing to shoot because it rained sounds reasonable IF the event also stopped. Weather conditions dictate the fate of most outdoor sports. I say most because not all sports observe this rule. Golf, for one, does not and seasoned golfers play on come rain or shine except when there's imminent life threatening danger such as thunder and lighting. In one golf tournament here in Brunei, lightning struck Hole 18 at one of the popular courses, thankfully that did not mean the LAST hole ever for a flight.

Last weekend, I shot the 2008 Lexus Golf Classic where it drizzled on the second day right before the group photo and it got progressively heavier. My 5D and 24-70 got more than its fair share of water droplets from waiting for the group to get ready, I just put a towel over it. By the time my partner and I reached our designated Hole # for the individual flight photos, rain got heavier and we had a lot of equipment still in our Lowepro bags ... both 5D and D3 were out and about.

We had a problem that weekend far more dangerous than rain. The D3 was corrupting images and we lost about 21 photos from the registration and thankfully not one from the critical group photos. If you follow the link above, my partner Anthony wrote his piece about the incident.

 

[catchlights]

For a paid event, refusing to shoot because it rained sounds reasonable IF the event also stopped. Weather conditions dictate the fate of most outdoor sports. I say most because not all sports observe this rule. Golf, for one, does not and seasoned golfers play on come rain or shine except when there's imminent life threatening danger such as thunder and lighting. In one golf tournament here in Brunei, lightning struck Hole 18 at one of the popular courses, thankfully that did not mean the LAST hole ever for a flight.

Last weekend, I shot the 2008 Lexus Golf Classic where it drizzled on the second day right before the group photo and it got progressively heavier. My 5D and 24-70 got more than its fair share of water droplets from waiting for the group to get ready, I just put a towel over it. By the time my partner and I reached our designated Hole # for the individual flight photos, rain got heavier and we had a lot of equipment still in our Lowepro bags ... both 5D and D3 were out and about.

We had a problem that weekend far more dangerous than rain. The D3 was corrupting images and we lost about 21 photos from the registration and thankfully not one from the critical group photos. If you follow the link above, my partner Anthony wrote his piece about the incident.

we are not talking about sport events here, it could be any events just for general public to partake and have fun, if the photos is news worthy and that's what client looking for, of course the photographer already well prepared for the bad weather will try to get the photos what clients are looking for.

anyway, if the clients don't want the (action in the rain) photos, definably will not use the (action in the rain) photos, will you go out all the way, risking your equipments fail before the event end, just to get what you think is an award winning (action in the rain) photo but that's not the clients are looking for? and How you gonne answer to your clients that you unable deliver the rest of the photos due to the equipment failure?

btw, as TS mention, he is only shooting for fun and leisure, why risk his one and only camera for that? nobody is gonne paying him for doing so.

 

[janshim]

anyway, if the clients don't want the (action in the rain) photos, definably will not use the (action in the rain) photos, will you go out all the way, risking your equipments fail before the event end, just to get what you think is an award winning (action in the rain) photo but that's not the clients are looking for? and How you gonne answer to your clients that you unable deliver the rest of the photos due to the equipment failure?

Do what needs done and own up to mistakes or failures when they happen—honesty not excuses is [still] the best policy. Since i think the question isn't about the golf event but about general failure and how I would respond in such emergency. I've encountered several emergencies as a pro including a total loss of shutter, camera dropped into river, stuck in heavy traffic due to accident/landslide despite leaving the house REALLY early. I had a client who wanted (more) pictures of their Chairman interacting with the Indonesian President one year and the Vietnam Prime Minister at the next anniversary event, both times their body guards and royal protocol got in the way so i ended up with photos that were compositionally challenged. Once again, sh*t happened. This year, the event is held in another country in Asia and I've been asked to be their official photographer for the third time running. Maybe I've been fortunate to have sympathetic clients? I don't know but fact is in this business, there seems to be more questions than answers most of the time.

Bottom line is this .. what's the worse that can happen? That you lose the client because of something that wasn't your fault to begin with? I may have survived several calamities previously but have so far still delivered despite working under pressure (against my wishes). Coming back to the golf event, we had an umbrella that we were going to use if weather conditions got worse. It would have meant we got the group photos if both of us shot the same scenes to back up each other and miss out on the creative greens

Sorry if I am long winded ... I made two tea spoons of Nescafe Gold instead of Milo and now I'm like super alert.

 

[LongCheer]

are you paid to shoot or just shoot for fun?

if you are paid, deliver what you suppose to deliver,

if you are shooting for fun, time to go for a hot coffee.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: