Rain can be a great addition to an image, as it can communicate so many things: sadness, romance, etc. We don’t really get much control over when it happens, however, and even if you’re handy with a garden hose, spraying water everywhere probably won’t be appreciated by your model or your camera equipment. Here’s how to fake it using Photoshop.

Coming to you from Anthony Morganti, this neat tutorial will show you how to add rain using Photoshop. I’m personally trying to escape the rain more often than embracing it, but being able to create it in post is a very neat option for adding a little extra touch or drama to your portraits. As always, notice how Morganti takes advantage of Smart Objects. Because creating the effect in a manner that’s realistic will require different parameter values depending on the image, having the ability to return to adjustments like blurring and tweak them to match will save you massive amounts of time. Speaking of parameters, they’re particularly important with this effect, so be sure to pay attention to the minutiae, such as the distance in the Motion Blur dialog. Grab a portrait out of your catalog and give it a try! 

Lead image by Maciej Szlachta, used under Creative Commons