Splash! How to capture morning reflections after rain

When you see it’s raining out, good news shutterbugs: it’s photo time!

If there’s a magic involved here, it’s pretty simple. Get out of bed early, before the sun comes up and erases all the reflections from your view.

For the above shot in Manhattan Beach, I knew the rain had just stopped so I dashed down to the corner of Highland and Manhattan Beach Boulevards, as I knew from past history that it gets great street light reflections in the wet streets right there. It also shines red from the neon sign of the Kettle, the iconic restaurant that’s on the corner.

So pretty much, all you have to do is try a bunch of different photo angles, and choose from your red, yellow or green from the street lights. The crosswalk seemed to get the biggest splash of colors, so I went with it.

I shot the above shots on an iPhone 14 Pro Max, which does especially well in low light, at 6:37 a.m. Had I arrived even earlier, say no later than 6 a.m., I would have been able to also shoot in “Night Mode,” when Apple lets even more light in for a cool effect.

I’m thrilled with what I have, but next time, I’ll get out there an hour earlier.