Discussion

How to Detect Rain in Photos

It appears foggy, but if there is rain, it is probably just a light mist. One clue is that there doesn't appear to be any water on the ground. Perhaps it hasn't been raining long enough for any to accumulate above ground instead being absorbed into the soil.

This next photo is similar. It depicts the famous Nachisan Seigantoji temple in the foreground with Nachi Falls, Japan's tallest single drop waterfall at about 436 feet, in the background. It is located in Wakayama Prefecture on the Kii peninsula, and again, it is supposed to be raining.

Except for the colors in the photo being slightly muted compared to similar pictures of the temple, it is hard to tell if that is just incidental or an obscuring effect from rain, mist, or whatever. There is certainly mist between the pagoda and the waterfall. There is one clue to the answer that is hard to see. Look on the deck above the stairs at the pagoda's bottom level. On the right side, see how there is reflected light, as if the deck is wet?

Light reflecting off of wet surfaces is a telltale sign of rain either being currently or recently present. This next photo is a much better example.

Rain is still not visible, but it is hard to imagine that it isn't there for two reasons. The wet deck of the bridge is a clear sign of rain, and the person carrying the umbrella to keep from getting wet is another. There is water at the bottom of the gorge, too. It may be that water is present year-round in this location, but in other locals, that isn't always true when it isn't raining. See the photo below.

It is unlikely that water will be in this place when it isn't raining, so the fact that it is here indicates that it has been raining. When water hits the ground, what isn't absorbed into the soil will collect and move downward. Enough rain causes rivulets to form where water wouldn't otherwise accumulate. When enough such water comes together, creeks, streams, and rivers form. If these suddenly encounter cliffs, things like Nachi Falls appear.

Sometimes water just sits on the ground without going anywhere before being absorbed into the soil or drying up. Reflected light and drops on leaves tells you it is there.

M. C. Escher's Three Worlds lithograph (1955) is a great example of the power of light on water, combined with a little imagination

Before reaching the ground, rain can be intercepted. It then often forms drops from wherever it is located and falls again.

Rain can fall off of anything that intercepts it on the way to the ground. One common place is off the roofs of buildings. How about something like this with landscape scenery in the background? At least you can see the rain (barely) in this photo.

Another thing to look for when you can't see rain in rainy photos is the effect it has on objects. Light reflecting off of wet surfaces was discussed earlier. For another sign, look closely at the surface of the pond in this photo.

The photo is hazy, probably from rain, but the real tip-off is all of the ripples from rain drops falling on the pond.

A final sure sign of rain is in the photo below.

Rainbows are always caused by sunlight coming from behind the person seeing the rainbow, refracting and reflecting off of water droplets in the air where the rainbow appears to be. The droplets don't always have to be from rain. They could be from the mist at the base of a waterfall or even from a garden hose sprayer. In a scene like this, however, where none of those other things are around, rain is the only answer.

Sōami (? – 1525)

Sōami was the third generation painter in a family of artists and painted for the Ashikaga shōgunate during the Muromachi period. He is most noted for his Japanese landscapes using Chinese painting techniques in the nanga (Southern style) school. The 17th century painting below is titled Rainy Landscape. Like many of the photos above, the rain can't be seen, but the tiny traveler carrying an umbrella provides a clue to the weather.

Suzuki Harunobu (1725 –  1770)

Harunobu is best known for being the first person to produce nishiki-e (brocade picture) ukiyo-e, a multi-color woodblock printing technique. He was a pretty good artist, too; mostly producing pictures of bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful people). The rain in this picture (1764 – 1770) can be implied from the context--the beauties sharing an umbrella--but the point is reinforced by thin black streaks denoting the path of raindrops as they fall from the sky. If you look closely, you can also see falling snow, so perhaps sleet may be a better term than rain. The ground the ladies are walking on appears to be covered with snow, too.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)

Hiroshige was one of Japan's greatest landscape painters; producing many ukiyo-e of the genre. One of his most famous series was 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō (Eastern Sea Road) (1833 – 1834) connecting Edo, the headquarters of the Tokugawa shōguns, with Kyōto, the home of the Emperor. The print below, depicting the 49th station, Spring Rain at Tsuchiyama, uses the same thin-line technique to represent rain. Notice that there are a lot more lines in this painting than in the one above. The rainfall is heavier. The rain is falling more or less straight down, indicating the absence of wind.

Hiroshige did other rain pictures, too. The picture of the 45th station (Shōno) in the 53 stations series, Travelers Surprised by Sudden Rain, represents a much heavier rainfall, only this time instead of thin-line streaks, nearly solid strokes of light sumi are used. Check out the second and third travelers from the left. They are carrying a palanquin occupied by another person between them. This was a common way for wealthy people to travel.

Hiroshige II (1826 – 1869)

Hiroshige II was a student of Hiroshige's. After Hiroshige died, he married Hiroshige's daughter and began to use Hiroshige's name for his own. His painting style was so similar to Hiroshige's that scholars sometimes have difficulty telling them apart. He didn't use the roman numeral II in his name; that is a convention that scholars use to distinguish his work from his master's. Hiroshige II's marriage ended in divorce. He moved from Edo to Yokohama and began using different artist names. This ukiyo-e, Paulownia Trees at Akasaka in the Evening Rain (1859), uses the thin line approach for rain again. 

After Hiroshige II left, Hiroshige's daughter remarried to another student of her father's who promptly began using the Hiroshige name for his paintings, too. He is known today as Hiroshige III (1842 or 1843 – 1894). Though he painted in the same style as the two previous Hiroshiges, he was not nearly as successful.

Sakai, Doitsu (1845 - 1913)

I have little information about Doitsu other than he was a relatively modern Japanese ukiyo-e artist. His print below, In the Rain (1900), is in the spirit of the mid 19th century ukiyo-e landscape masters. Note that the rain is once again heavy, like the technique used in the second of the two Hiroshige prints shown above. Note the rivulet at the bottom of the picture.