The story behind the photo: a rainbow

Sunday 16 May 2021, 14:14 by Nando Harmsen | 4,595 views | 2 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

In this article, I want to tell you more about a photo of a rainbow that I took several years ago.

How did I get to that place at that time, what equipment did I use, and what post-processing turned the photo into what it is? This is the story behind a photo of a rainbow.

The photo was taken on 8 July 2015, on a rainy evening at 20:43. By now, this photo has been hanging in the living room for quite a few years, printed on dibond at a size of 150 by 100 centimetres.

What is the story behind the photo?

It rained heavily that day. But the forecast for the end of the day promised that the cloud would break. As sunsets with lots of rain clouds can produce special colours, I wanted to try photographing it.

I set off in the rain, with a rain cover, waterproof clothing and the hope that it would be dry when I arrived, or shortly afterwards. Of course, I also hoped for a rainbow, because sunlight and rain clouds can produce this beautiful natural phenomenon.

The rain stopped as predicted, and the cloud broke on the horizon, allowing the sun's rays to shine across the mere and illuminate the dark rain clouds. And yes, a beautiful rainbow was the result while the last raindrops were still falling.

Where was the photo taken?

When I left, I had a place in mind: the Starven on the Strabrechtse Heide. This is a place I know well, and I knew it was perfect for a sunset.

There is a beautiful conifer on the shore, which can be a perfect subject in the otherwise flat landscape.

Why this composition and image layout?

I had the conifer in mind as the subject, and chose a position from which I could capture the tree, the mere and the rainbow in a single image.

My first instinct was to show the entire rainbow, but that would make the photo less interesting because all the elements in the landscape would appear so small. I also wanted the reflection of the rainbow in the water to be clearly visible.

With that in mind, I chose to make the tree large in the frame, with the shore running from the corner of the photo towards and alongside the tree. The rainbow formed a beautiful arc over the tree, with the reflection going in the opposite direction.

What equipment and settings were used?

I used a Canon EOS 1Dx, together with an EF 24-70mm f/2,8L lens. I had a tripod with me, but I did not use it for this photo. I also did not use any filters, as I did not think that would be practical in the rain.

To get this framing, I apparently zoomed in to 28mm. The sensitivity was set to ISO100, and at f/9, aperture priority selected an exposure time of 1/60 second.

As always, I set my white balance to daylight to prevent any warm colours from being compensated for by auto white balance. I shoot in raw, so this can always be corrected, but I like to start my post-processing with a fixed white balance as the starting point.

What post-processing was done?

The photo was fully processed in Lightroom Classic, although it was not yet called Classic in 2015. I reduced the highlights, added global contrast and reduced the microcontrast (clarity). Vibrance was increased to bring out the actual colours.

I also added extra contrast locally, particularly in the grass in the foreground and in the tree canopy, which brought out the light and dark areas better.

The lesson from this photo

The creation of this photo shows that you should not stay at home waiting for conditions to improve, but should already be on location when they do.

Make sure you know a few places where you can create beautiful compositions. This allows you to make quick decisions, so you are already in the right place before moments like this occur. If you still have to look for good compositions when it happens, you will be too late.

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