9 tips for street photography in the rain

I recently stood in a street where nobody really wanted to be. At least, that is how it looked. Rain straight in your face, people with hunched shoulders, bags held over heads, one man trying to cycle with an umbrella and visibly regretting it. I was standing under an awning, supposedly to keep my camera dry, but mostly because I could not be bothered for a minute.

And then all sorts of things happened.

A woman stepped into a puddle at exactly the moment a bus drove past. Not great for her shoes, good for my photo. A child looked up at the rain as if someone had forgotten to turn off the tap. A couple tried to fit under one umbrella, which always sounds more romantic than it is, because usually one of them is just getting wet.

Photographing in the rain is a hassle. We can just say that. But for street photography, rain is also a gift. The city changes. People move differently. The light gets softer, streets start to shine and everyone suddenly has a small problem to solve. There is often a photo in that.

1. Do not wait until it dries up

My first instinct is still to open the rain radar and see when things will go back to normal. As if normal is always better. It is not. In the rain, a street becomes less predictable. People speed up, hesitate at crossings, look for shelter, almost bump into each other because everyone is looking down under an umbrella.

If you wait until the rain stops, you usually only photograph the wet aftermath. That can be lovely, but you miss the behaviour. And that behaviour is exactly what makes street photography interesting. Rain is not just weather. It is a director that makes everyone move slightly differently.

2. Look for places where people have to choose

In the rain, transitions become interesting. The exit of a station. A bus stop. A zebra crossing. The edge of a market. A narrow pavement with too many umbrellas. A shopfront where people linger for just a moment before stepping into the wet street after all.

In places like that, you see decisions. Will they run? Will they wait? Will they share an umbrella? Will they pull their coat over their head? Street photography lives on small choices. Rain makes those choices visible.

I often stay in those places longer than I normally would. Not because I am so patient, that is disappointingly untrue, but because the place keeps working. Every minute someone else comes past and has to deal with the same wet situation all over again.

3. Use reflections without turning them into a trick

Wet pavements, windows, bus shelters and puddles give you reflections. Everyone knows that. The trap is that you then start photographing nothing but reflections because they look so nicely photographic. Before you know it, you come home with twenty photos of upside-down buildings in puddles. Can be beautiful. Can also feel as if your camera was looking for a screensaver.

I try to use reflections mainly when they add something to what is already happening. A face appearing twice in a shop window. An umbrella returning as a patch of colour on the road. A lamppost drawing a line through your composition in a puddle.

The reflection is not the subject then, but a layer. That usually makes the photo stronger.

4. Notice umbrellas, but do not trust them blindly

Umbrellas are wonderful and annoying at the same time. They give shape, colour and repetition. They also hide faces, turn everyone into a walking mushroom and poke straight into your composition just when you thought you had something.

Still, they are useful. Especially if you look at rhythm. Three dark umbrellas in a row. One yellow one among all the black ones. An umbrella tilting in the wind. Someone half visible under the edge.

Do not only wait for the perfect face under an umbrella. Look at posture too. A bent back, a hand around a bag, a shoulder creeping up. Rain makes body language clearer. People are less busy looking good and more busy staying dry. That helps.

5. Photograph closer to the edges

In the rain, life moves to the edges. Under awnings, along facades, in doorways, just inside the entrance to a shop. More often happens there than in the middle of the square, where everyone mainly wants to get away as quickly as possible.

I like those half-places. Not inside, not outside. People straighten their hood, shake out their umbrella, check their phone, see whether the shower is easing off. They are not grand moments, but street photography does not always need to be grand. In fact, most of the time that just gets tiring.

Stand at one of those edges yourself for a while. You stay a bit drier and you watch people coming towards you from the rain. That brings calm to your frame. And sometimes just to your head as well, which is worth something too.

6. Allow movement

Rain and hurry belong together. People walk faster, cycle less steadily, cars pull streaks through wet tarmac. You do not have to freeze all of that. A bit of movement can say exactly what it felt like on the street.

A coat in motion, a blurred cyclist, a hand shooting up to grab a hood. If everything is technically frozen perfectly, rain can suddenly become very well behaved. While out on the street it was messy.

I am not saying blur is always art. Sometimes it is just missed. We should stay honest about that. But in the rain, you can think a little more loosely. The photo does not have to prove your camera was fast enough. It can also show that the city was in a hurry.

7. Choose simpler compositions

Rain makes a street busy. Umbrellas, drops, shiny pavements, headlights, wet coats, people suddenly speeding up. If you then also try to put everything into one photo, it quickly turns into soup. Wet soup, in this case.

In the rain, I often try to look more simply. One colour that stands out. One person against a calm wall. One movement on an otherwise empty pavement. One reflection that is worth it.

That may sound obvious, but on the street you forget these things quickly. You see potential everywhere and think you have to include all of it. You do not. One well-chosen element is often enough.

8. Think about your own place in the street

In dry weather, you can easily keep wandering. In the rain, it is smarter to choose your position more consciously. Where is the light coming from? Where are people walking? Where can you stand without having to wipe your lens every few seconds? Where do you have a background that does not immediately clog up with parked bikes, bins and other Dutch cosiness?

A good spot saves work. You do not have to run after every possible photo. You let the street come to you. That sounds zen, but usually it just means standing under a canopy for five minutes waiting for someone in a nice coat to come round the corner.

And yes, sometimes nothing happens. Then you move on. That is part of it too.

9. Keep looking after the shower

When the rain stops, people start walking upright again. Umbrellas snap shut, terraces are cautiously reclaimed, someone wipes a saddle dry with a sleeve. The street is still wet, but the mood changes.

I often find that moment at least as interesting as the shower itself. There is relief in it. The city breathes out a little. The light can suddenly fall beautifully across wet stones, without everyone still panicking in search of somewhere dry.

So do not stop straight away. Do not put your camera away the second it is dry. Hang around for another fifteen minutes. That is often exactly the bit you would have missed if you had behaved too neatly according to the weather forecast.

Learning street photography in real weather

In my street photography workshops, we simply walk into the city. Even when the weather does not do what we ordered. Maybe especially then. Rain forces you to look differently, react faster and wait less for perfect conditions.

That is actually a big part of street photography: not hoping for control, but learning to look at what is happening anyway. With wet shoes, if needed.