A day in the rain

After a full week of working on the computer and being stuck indoors I was determined to have a "day out". I have a beautiful little NEW car that I haven't had a chance to drive so regardless of the weather, Monday was to be a driving and photo day! (The weekends are when everyone else has a driving and photo taking day!)
Monday morning was grey and rain was threatening. I decided that the rain forest was the place to be in the rain, so my patient and obliging husband helped me to pack the car with picnic and camera bags and dug out a raincoat and umbrella and off we went.
The ISO was increased in the camera to 800 to allow more light into the camera - it is very dark under all those dripping trees.

f/9    1/5sec   ISO 800

So dark in fact that I still had to slow the shutter speed way below that for hand holding - which is why this photo looks rather shaky - it is! I have also brightened the picture so that it actually looks way brighter than I saw it! Maybe I should have left it dark and that way I wouldn't have to apologise for not having taken a tripod along with me! A tripod in the rain! No way!! As soon as the picture was taken the camera - supported on an over-the-shoulder strap - it went head first into my bag! I couldn't do that with the camera if it was on a tripod.
Rather than waste our time by walking to the lookout, (poor visibility) Colin and I went straight to the top of the falls. I took plenty of photos here but will share only two of them.

f/13   1/5   ISO 800

Again the shutter speed is very low for this shot even though it is in a brighter area than under the trees. This was to smooth out the water flow. I rested my elbows on a metal railing but this is still not as good as resting the camera on a tripod.

f/7 1   1/100   ISO 800

You will be able to see the difference in sharpness in this shot of the tree ferns beside the water. That is because of the faster shutter speed. As it was still very dull I left the ISO turned up high. All my photos were taken in full manual mode because the camera would over compensate for the poor light and make the shots all over exposed so there would be no detail in the bright areas such as in the water in the foreground or the leaves on the top of the fern.

f/7  1/100  ISO 800

Although it was still raining I asked Colin to stand against the railing so that I could show the beautiful clouds climbing over the hills and also show off my willing helper! Most of the time he was holding the umbrella over the two of us while I took my photos. He was quite concerned that I would get soaked if he went off like this - but I was quick!

f/7    1/60   ISO 800

There is something quite magical about the rainforest in the rain. In spite of the puddles on the path and the dripping of the trees after the rain had stopped it is alive with the song of invisible birds. I was a little disappointed that we saw no wildlife. I thought we might have seen a lizard or a brush turkey or even a carpet snake - but no, just raindrops!

One amazing thing caught our attention as we drove to our next location, there was such a mess all over the roads.

There was bark everywhere.

What seems to have happened is that the trees have enjoyed this big deluge after the three scorching hot days of last week that they have thrown off all their clothes to feel it better! 

AJ