# Watching football on TV: the rain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450 "2013-07-14T03:08:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450/1 "2013-07-14T03:08:40Z")
I’ve been watching a CFL game on the TV intermittently. BC versus Edmonton, if anyone cares. There is a torrential downpour as they play. And yet as you watch it, you can barely see any droplets from the side profile cameras. You wouldn’t know it was raining until they go up to the real close up shots and you see them taking a shower in their uniforms. I’ve noticed this in NFL games too. What principle of optics/TV/neurology/meteorology am I ignoring, that makes the rain barely perceptible? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450/2 "2013-07-14T03:41:06Z")
Maybe HDTVs are so good now we can’t perceive it. WAG obviously. ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450/3 "2013-07-14T04:40:13Z")
Shouldn’t we see it more? You’d see the rain if you were sitting in the stadium watching the game, I’d guess… ---
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450/4 "2013-07-14T13:33:16Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > … What principle of optics/TV/neurology/meteorology am I ignoring, that makes the rain barely perceptible? Optics: Depth of field If you were sitting in the stands, you would be able to see the rain immediately in front of you. You would not be able to see the rain on the field because the drops are too small to be seen at that distance. The TV cameras are focused on the players, not on the rain drops 3m feet in front of the camera. I’m guessing here, but I if the players are 30m away, the depth of field of the TV camera is probably between 20m and 45m. Anything outside of this range is out of focus. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450/5 "2013-07-14T14:18:57Z")
It may also just be a personal difference in perspective. My first thought on seeing the game was “whoa - look at that rain!” ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450/6 "2013-07-14T14:47:23Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > It may also just be a personal difference in perspective. My first thought on seeing the game was “whoa - look at that rain!” But only when they show the close up shots, right? I cannot see the rain coming down during a snap, in all of my TV’s HD glory. If it wasn’t for the sideline crew wrapped in plastic, I wouldn’t know it was raining! ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450/7 "2013-07-14T16:58:36Z")
In wide shots of the people it is much more obvious. You can see the lack of sharpness quite easily. The posts up thread splain the TV camera thing quite well. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450/8 "2013-07-14T19:49:44Z")
> [@antonio107](#): > > But only when they show the close up shots, right? I cannot see the rain coming down during a snap, in all of my TV’s HD glory. If it wasn’t for the sideline crew wrapped in plastic, I wouldn’t know it was raining! No, I came into the tv room where Mrs Piper was watching the game, and it was a shot of a play beginning; not a close-up. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/watching-football-on-tv-the-rain/663450/9 "2013-07-14T20:59:33Z")
Rain will show up much more strikingly if it’s backlit in the camera’s view, so shots from field level are going to show rain more readily. The ordinary shots of the field during play, when the cameras are up high, pointing down, there isn’t much light available from behind the drops to highlight them.