The Promise of Light and Water--Photographing Rainbows

I feel certain that there is not a person on this earth that does not like rainbows, they represent beauty throughout all the world, there is countless legends throughout the various cultures concerning the rainbow. As Christians, rainbows have an extra special meaning. It is God's promise written in the sky to never again send another world-wide flood to destroy the earth. As I see yet another rainbow I am reminded that God always keeps His promises regardless of the wickedness and perversity of mankind-God is always faithful, even when we fall short.

With this in mind how should we go about capturing this "promise of light and water" on film?

Rainbows form when the sun's rays hit water droplets of the right size at the right angle. The water droplets act as a prism, separating the white light into all the various colors; the light then exits via the back of the droplets dispersing back into the air in various directions. Depending upon the angle at which you stand different colors will appear to be more dominant.

Rainbows can appear anywhere where the sun is shining on a continual spray of water-that is if the drops are the right size. Rainbows do not appear in mist or fog because the water droplets are too small.

The best time to look for rainbows in the sky are at the end of a passing storm, with your back to the sun, look in the opposite direction, towards the edge of the moving storm, you might just be blessed with a rainbow.

Work quickly when you spot a rainbow or think you might have one, because rainbows vanish as quickly as they appear. Sometimes if you change locations you can catch another one, since there is usually more than one rainbow at one time, you just can't see them all.

Rainbows can come unexpectedly, my great-grandmother and I were on our way to the store once and it began to look like rain. As the droplets began to form on the windshield my grandmother pointed to our right, "Look, a rainbow" my eyes turned to the right, sure enough there was the beautiful arc of a rainbow. I instantly grabbed my camera (yes, I had it with me, in the car, on our way to the store :) and began taking pictures through the window, but the window began to fog. So my grandmother graciously offered to pull over (we were on a low-traffic country road) and allowed me to take pictures from outside the truck.

I got out and began taking pictures wildly. It began to rain harder, still, more pictures, it began to downpour, I shielded my camera and held it close to my shirt as I ran to the door of my grandmother's truck, and quickly closed the door. I was soaked, but I had my picture of light and and water.