Wish Me A Rainbow....

"Wish me a rainbow... wish me a star...."

Remember that song? Hmmm.... you are too young? Sigh....

There is something special about rainbow that I love, partly because they are so difficult to capture on film; well... most of the time you do not have a camera when you see one!



My very first rainbow (above) was taken in 1989, second year after we migrated here.

We were staying in a friend's house in New Plymouth, top of the New Zealand North Island.

When I saw her, I ran back into the house to get my Leica. Only got two shots before she disappeared!

She was captured with my trusty "beat up" Leica M4P, the 50mm f2 Summicron and Kodak Gold film.

Barbara Luby like this shot, she comment:

"I love rainbows too and there's something about your rainbow that is especially special.

You caught a beautiful sky with it and the village below is so vivid and clear.

A little noise in the sky, unfortunately, but the perfectness of the rainbow itself overcomes that distraction. Great shot!!"

It was a glorious sunny winter day... yeah! You can't beat Wellington on a fine day!

Two hours later the whole scenario changed, it started drizzling and a very cold Southerly invade.

Then the dark cloud broke, the winter sun came through... by instinct I knew this is the perfect atmosphere for rainbow formation!

I ran and grab my digital camera, just in time to capture this rainbow from my deck!

Like most rainbow, the spectacle lasts only a few seconds.

I had quite a bit of time to capture my next rainbow.

My family and I were having the time of our life at the Niagara Falls in Buffalo, USA.

We just experienced the breath taking ride on the "Maiden of the Mist" that took us near to one of the roaring fall!

Now I am look at the Maiden from above the Fall, the rainbow here is perpetual; created by the roaring spray.... framed by the emerald like water, this is one Wonder of the World I got to capture on film!

I used my trusty Leica M6, 28mm f2.8 Summicron lens and Kodak Ektapress film.


Heather Lancaster, a rainbow lover remarked:

"Again, very nice. I have to wonder if you did some color manipulation, or if the water really is that green. Either way, very nice colors. The rainbow is wonderful. Your focus and clarity are great, and the angle and framing are also very nice. Lovely photo!"

Hard to believe but true! The water WAS THAT GREEN! I reckoned everyone should go see the Falls at least once in their lifetime!

I had the good fortune of capturing a rainbow while staying with our good friends, Boon and Jackie in Brisbane.

Their apartment was overlooking the Brisbane River, a storm was approaching; I set up my tiny Nikon Coolpix 8400 on a tripod and snapped this stunning hues over the city.


Sometime rainbow can appear in places that you never expect! Look at the shot below, we were at the Museum of Natural History; New York and I noticed a huge concave mirror on the ceiling created a miniature rainbow!

A memorable family portrait captured with the rainbow, rain drops not needed! :)


Famous Last Words:

I suppose with the advent of super compact, mega pixel digi-cam in your pocket; it is now easier than ever to capture a rainbow?

When shooting a rainbow, remember:

a) DO NOT depend on your auto focus, it will not bring the rainbow into focus; "half-click" on some distant object to set the focus.... reframe and shoot away.

b) Auto exposure will usually over exposed the rainbow, I personally like to shoot manual exposure; "under" two stops.

c) Be quick when the whimsical rainbow appeared, it do not wait for you; most of the time it disappeared or faded away in a matter of seconds. Unless of course, you are at the Niagara Falls :-)

So how many rainbow have you capture?

And where is the pot of gold?

Happy rainbow hunting!