Lessons Learned: Weather beauty

On a one-week trip in Maine (where they say, "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute.") I was determined to shoot every day regardless of rain, sleet, hail, snow or any other of Mother Nature's mail carrier or photographer deterrents.

Sure enough, the Maine weather brought me fog and drizzle at dawn of my second day there, so I went to the nearest hardware store and bought a bright yellow rain suit to keep me going regardless of whatever blew up.

I found these leaves on my drive from Castine to Mt. Desert Island on the streets of Blue Hill. Strikingly bright foliage drew me to a roadside stop, and after finding all the angles on the local trees, I looked down and saw this composition on the road's shoulder beside my parked rental car.

The combination of "open shade" lighting (actually overcast skies) and the moisture created this soft, colorful image, complete with droplets on the leaves.

The Lesson Learned here is that bright sunshine isn't necessary - and in fact can often be detrimental - for capturing brightly colored images. The softer light found in overcast conditions doesn't create harsh highlights on objects, and as a result the rich true color beneath comes through.