Many photographers will cancel a photoshoot when the weather calls for rain — but for one particular portrait session, photographer Vanessa Joy (@VanessaJoy) created her own rain using a garden hose. Vanessa recently shared a behind-the-scenes look at a session where she created dramatic rain photos in a simple front yard shoot with water and lights.

For this shoot, Vanessa explained that she was inspired by a video she saw where another photographer used a garden hose and the sun for an engagement session. Inspired, Vanessa wanted to bring her own take and add in off-camera flash. The session was a personal shoot taken in the model Juliana Nicole’s front yard. Vanessa was also assisted by Simone Jaramillo Photo while videographer Samuel Bouret recorded behind the scenes. The model’s mom even pitched in and helped hold the hose.

Vanessa used a Profoto A10 to backlight the hose water and transform it into dramatic rain photos. She played with gels in some shots to adjust the color of the water. The sun was also behind the model, which in some images resulted in some orange-colored water droplets.

The model was lit with a Profoto A2 and a Profoto Clic Softbox. “I don’t have any rules that I live by when lighting my subjects except that I want to get light in their eyes and create a flattering look for them,” Vanessa says,  “something that is going to accentuate their features. For Juliana, that is definitely her eyes, but also her jawline and cheekbones.”

From there, Vanessa explains that she experimented with different aperture and shutter speed settings, watching how those changes altered the background. Shooting with her Canon R6 Mark II and the Canon RF 135mm f1.8 L IS wide open resulted in too little detail in the background water, Vanessa says, so most of the shoot was done at f5. Faster shutter speeds created circular water droplets while slowing the shutter down just a bit creates streaks of water instead. The full shoot took around half an hour before wrapping up.

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The goal of the session was mainly to play and have fun. “My overall aesthetic used to be more bright and vibrant, now it is whatever mood strikes me at the time,” Vanessa says. “It’s a lot more fun that way. I definitely have wedding photos that look nothing like this that are whimsical and have a bright, dreamy look to them. Then, I like to have a look to my portraits that have a lot of attitude. I don’t like to have the same look overall. It’s whatever the situation calls for.”

Vanessa Joy will be sharing more tips during WPPI, where she’ll be joining the Wedding Masters as well as leading a talk about finding social media success on Instagram. In the meantime, catch her on the Rangefinder WPPI YouTube channel this Wed, January 31 at Noon PST, talking about the Wedding Summit.

Five Lighting Tips from Vanessa Joy

1. Do what the situation calls for.
2. Break the rules; it’s okay to break the lighting rules.
3. Consider the subject over photographic rules. It matters what the person in your photo or the client paying for the photo thinks as opposed to what’s technically correct or not correct in the photo. When it comes to lighting or any photographic decision, the client matters more.
4. Make sure you have good gear that you can rely on. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the top of the line, but doing a shoot like this where you are experimenting and your gear is failing on you is completely frustrating.
5. Play with gels and color. It brings a completely different aspect to lighting photographically.

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