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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

How to film a rainbow properly?

Camera position is of course critical.
Sun directly behind you with water mist directly in front. rainbow pop.

A darker background helps the background pop.
Shot a waterfall in Iceland whee there was nothing between my back and the horizon. When the sun set (and using a air 120 degree prime) a 360 degree rainbow appeared in the mist!

Not any waterfalls where there is nothing between you and the horizon.


It is not uncommon shooting aerials.

You could make your own mist of course, find a plain, desert or western seaboard beach and find a way to produce a fine mist.
At least I think that should work:)

Mike Brennan
 
Thanks for the tip Michael.
Here in Tuscany it is the period of rain showers, and I did a first try on a rainbow.
As it was a really big rainbow by watching it, it didn't appear on my footages until I did pulldown drastically the exposure with a curve down in RCX.
Wich made the shot not really usable.
And yes the back ground (a small village) was under the sun unfortunatelly and the horizon was bright aswell.
What I still don't get it is, why my eyes were more able to watch the phenomenon than the camera threw the lens and filters?

EDIT I'm gona try some hdrx on the next one.
B.
 
Just gave another try, a couple of days ago.
Underexposing and a specific angle helped a bit but, it is still far away from what my eyes could actually see.

CZ Contax 28 AE 5KFF@F8
1276093_10201850992422852_1240600426_o.jpg
 
I hate to even suggest this... But have you considered VFX? If you need something specific for a project...
 
Zach Gray said:
I hate to even suggest this... But have you considered VFX? If you need something specific for a project...
Click to expand...
Well, in theory I could.
But in the absolute I want to understand what's going on when filming this type of meteorological event.
Rainbow being an optical meteorological phenomenon, I just wondering why it is so hard to capture what I see, and it is not DR related.
Could it be lense related or focal lense choice?
B.
 
Brice,

Use a circular polarizing filter to dial in the "correct" amount of polarization. Adding some polarization will intensify the colors but too much will filter out the rainbow itself so use judiciously. Another factor that may be making the rainbow not look like you saw it is the use of a wide angle lens which will diminish the relative size of the rainbow in the scene (you probably already know this so no offense intended, just putting it out there).

Webster
 
Webster Miller said:
Brice,

Use a circular polarizing filter to dial in the "correct" amount of polarization. Adding some polarization will intensify the colors but too much will filter out the rainbow itself so use judiciously. Another factor that may be making the rainbow not look like you saw it is the use of a wide angle lens which will diminish the relative size of the rainbow in the scene (you probably already know this so no offense intended, just putting it out there).

Webster
Click to expand...

Yea with a focal of 50 I could get a bit more intensity but far away from what I could see.
Circular polarizing filter make sense.
I used a non circular one, fact is their was no change in the arc intencity with or without it, except for the clouds.
Circular, I need one now. Thanks for the tip.
B.
 
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