How to shoot sunlit rain at sunset?

[dreed]

This evening as I was walking back to my car under light rain, I was watching long shadows in the fields below lit by sunlight breaking through the clouds...

Then the golden sunlight caught the rain and it was just an amazing sight to see and when I look at what I've captured (see attached) it doesn't in the slightest match up. Note that I was shooting towards the sun. Is this a post-problem or is it just not possible for the camera to get this situation right?

Has anyone else here found themselves in a similar situation? (Shooting towards a setting sun that is lighting up rain to be a golden color against a dark background.) If so, how did you go in getting it right?

[Dale Villeponteaux]

I have not seen this myself, so have no idea what the answer is to your original question.
There are a number of ways to correct color in post-processing, however. Try making a selection
of the sky above the dark green trees and place this on a separate layer then go to image, adjustment.
First you might try color lookup since there are a number of presets, one of which may meet your need.
Alternatively, try color balance, saturation etc to see if this gets closer to the color you remember.
Another approach would be to change color space to LAB and start with altering luminance.
Can't be more specific since I don't know what color you're trying to match, not having seen what
you saw.

Good luck,
Dale

PS: the spell checker wanted me to use an "e" for the "a" in luminance.

[Patricia Sheley]

...What a remarkable locale! Looking at the field shadows I am trying to blend the 3-5 second displays just as quickly disappearing now here as we reach equal day and night , and try to imagine how that would play into what you witnessed. Do you have further info as to your colour memories within and outside the valley or was it just too brief and beautiful?

This morning I see both Bart and I headed in similar directions but seeing the overexposure still overhead to the right found myself wondering if the strip in center is indeed water and not (what made no sense to  me) a white agricultural building. Of course as Bart notes, working only from jpg you provided...

At least you have your memory for sorting in your mind the future as similar circumstances arise. (... is where I find myself often.) One thing that has surprised me in rains and fogs happening in different "velocities" is how dramatically
quick adj's of shutter speed (manual is where I am most comfortable at these times) can be in capturing what you are experiencing. Wish I could have seen this. Glad you have it in your experience pack. Did you shoot raw?

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

This evening as I was walking back to my car under light rain, I was watching long shadows in the fields below lit by sunlight breaking through the clouds...

Then the golden sunlight caught the rain and it was just an amazing sight to see and when I look at what I've captured (see attached) it doesn't in the slightest match up. Note that I was shooting towards the sun. Is this a post-problem or is it just not possible for the camera to get this situation right?

Hi,

It's probably a post-processing problem, but it's hard to know how to address it with the processing since we didn't experience the situation (a sensation which you are trying to recreate and convey). Attached is an attempt (only using Topaz Clarity) based on your reduced size jpeg, just an idea, possibly not what you had in mind.

Has anyone else here found themselves in a similar situation? (Shooting towards a setting sun that is lighting up rain to be a golden color against a dark background.) If so, how did you go in getting it right?

The only thing you can do is getting the shot. Then use the required tools in post-processing to (re)create your vision.

Cheers,
Bart

[Paulo Bizarro]

Not sure what your goal is here, but I can offer a few suggestions. I have seen similar weather in Oman, when there were some storms combining rain and dust (which is not the case, granted). But all of a sudden the air would turn moist and yellow.

To capture the colour is not a problem, and you can use selection tools, or gradient tools, to adjust colour, tone curves, clarity, etc.

Now, to capture the rain squalls or showers, you need to use a fast enough shutter speed, otherwise they will just come up as a sort of fog. If as you say the rain was light, it would look almost like some fog, so not really much to do.

[MattBurt]

Rain is tough to catch if you are trying to get individual drops. Fast shutter and often a shallow DOF (which fortunately often go together) helps isolate a layer of drops and make them visible.
To get illuminated sheets, I think you are on the right track with trying to put shadows behind them. The suggestion of something like Topaz Clarity is good too although I'd use Nik Detail Extractor since that is what I have. That will help bring out the feathery texture of distant rain.

Looks like it was a magical moment, congratulations on being ready with your camera!

[dreed]

...
Now, to capture the rain squalls or showers, you need to use a fast enough shutter speed, otherwise they will just come up as a sort of fog. If as you say the rain was light, it would look almost like some fog, so not really much to do.

Yes, it was like fog but most often fog is in valleys and has no sunlight (in the morning), this had no distinct shape (fog generally does - I've shot fog before, see attached and that was much easier to shoot and deal with in post.) It was like the air was glowing?

I was going to try attach the image as a raw file for people to play with but even cropping it down to 8MP gives me a DNG file size greater than the attachment limit