How to photograph a rainbow

One of the trickier natural phenomenons to take a good picture of are rainbows. You’ll be driving along in the rain or looking out your window from work when you see it, and by the time you’re ready to take a picture – it’s gone (or less brilliant then it was when you saw it at first). This time of year (and spring) are great for catching rainbows though – if the conditions are right.

The conditions in the atmosphere change so quickly, however, and rainbows require a certain set of circumstances to form. Because of this, you need to move quickly and be ready for one to happen whenever the skies seem right. The conditions that usually result in a rainbow are a mixture of dark skies where rain is falling and light skies where the sun is shining. Somewhere between the two is where you’ll find your rainbow… (I know, that sounds so corny).

Framing

Taking a good rainbow picture is mostly a matter of framing it properly. The surroundings are the bulk of the picture, and if your landscape looks awful, so will the picture – no matter how beautiful the rainbow is.

Dark skies are great for backgrounds, and the quality of light that results from a dark/light sky combination is usually pretty good, resulting in some nice saturated color on the ground.

Foregrounds are also important. Check for power lines and manmade objects and make sure they don’t detract from the picture. Positioning yourself and your camera can sometimes compensate for, or eliminate altogether, the presence of poorly framed elements.

Polarizing Filter

A polarizer will help you get more vivid, saturated color out of your skies and any foliage (trees, grass, etc) in the picture. It will also help bring out detail in the clouds. By turning the ring on the polarizer, you can highlight various different parts of the rainbow and get different effects (which you will see through the viewfinder before you take the picture).

For further reading on polarizers and their use, check out this article.

Tripod

Often times the whole sky above you is dark when you’re framing your rainbow picture, and if you’re using a polarizer, you also lose some light. With all this going on, you’ll end up with shutter speeds that are typically a little low to be hand held. Since you want to get the sharpest picture you can get, a tripod is a good way of handling that.