Hello folks, as we all know Texas hasn't seen much rain lately, so I decided to make some of my own :)  Before I get into that, I'd like to thank everyone that came out to this shoot. The models, Lindsey, Sydney, Shania, Rachel, Annie & Tony, did a great job, and as always, where a lot of fun to work with. Thanks to everyone's 'support teams' (mom's and dad), and especially thanks to Linda for getting the location, and of course thanks to Betty Sue, our host for the shoot.
Thanks also to Cynthia of Bella Luna Images for coming out and shooting, and also for helping me setup the rain machine :)

As usual this summer, it was hot, with little or no wind, but we found a little shade to setup the rain machines. I built two of them and wasn't sure which one would work best, but it ended up depended on the type of shot. One created a single line of drops about 4 feet or so long, the other created about 4 rows of drops about three feet long.  I initially turned it on and adjusted it to look right to the eye, but when I started shooting, the camera didn't 'see' that many drops, as you can see in some of the pictures, so  I had to really crank it up for the camera to see it as 'rain'.

I learned a lot from this shoot, and plan to do a few more with the rain machines. One of the things I learned was if the model looked dry and visually there didn't seem to be a reason for it, the images didn't really look right. For example, in the images below, if the model is dry and standing/posing behind the water, it's an ok images, but doesn't 'feel' right. However, if the model does anything to interact with the water, such as Rachel's shots when leaning forward and putting her hand in to the water, even though she's dry, the images work much better. Even better is then the model is wet, such as Annie's pictures in the rain coat. I'm not sure when, but I'll be planning a couple more shoots before summers over that should take better advantage of the rain machines.

I realized that I had spent too much time 'playing' with my rain machines, basically shooting in the same spot the whole time,  and never really took advantage of the beautiful backyard we were in. Thankfully, Cynthia got some great shots of the models around the yard and by the pool :)

Here's a few of my favorites, including a few 'dry' pictures :)  For everyone at the shoot, there is a private gallery with more images. If you don't have the access code, contact me.

Click on any image to view larger.

Thanks again everyone,

Richard.