ASSIGNMENT 65

Umbrellas

ASSIGNMENT

Some may say that umbrella pictures are cliché. But I think a good umbrella picture remains a good picture.

TECHNIQUE

Refer back to Assignment 59: Play in the Rain on page 150 and focus your attention on umbrellas. Think color for a playful look or black and white for a timeless feel. You may want to include parts of your own umbrella in your composition as a creative framing. If you have a clear, bell-shaped umbrella, you can shoot through it or use manual focus and concentrate on the raindrops like you would with a window. Think about a bird’s-eye view of many colorful umbrellas, something like a vantage point over a busy bus stop on a rainy day. If it’s a very windy day, you can predict that umbrellas will turn inside out. Be on the lookout for that. Find a good spot in a windy location and wait. When working on a theme, try to previsualize a few scenarios, and something better may even come along!

Epic Rainstorm in New York City / NYC, 2017

Fujifilm X100F, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec., ISO 4000

Dancers in the Rain / Paris, 2016

Fujifilm X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/250 sec., ISO 1250