The post Weekly Photo Challenge – Water appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.
There are so many ways to photograph ‘water’ be it running, still, lakes, oceans, rivers… The list is likely to be endless and all-encompassing. #dPSWater
Tag your photograph #dPSWater if you share it on social media.
Slowing your shutter down and capturing the life in water, above with 1/10th of a second – unexpected and out on a shelf of rock with no filters, I had to stop my lens wayyyy down (f22) to get the slow shutter speed – just remember though, really high F numbers show you just how dirty your sensor is! (Clean it!)
Don’t know how to slow that shutter down? Click Here, try it, them come post your water photograph for this week’s challenge! Details on how to submit at the base of this post.
Maybe combine elements of water and sky to give your image extra levels of interest.
Great! Where do I upload my photos?
Simply upload your shot into the comments field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see. Or, if you’d prefer, upload them to your favourite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them.
Join and post in our Facebook Group
The post Weekly Photo Challenge – Water appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Sime.
NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has used its onboard Faint Object infrared Camera for the SOFIA Telescope (FORCAST) to discover water molecules on the sunlit surface of the Moon. For the first time, there are indications that water may be distributed across the Moon’s surface, and not limited to just cold, dark areas of the lunar surface.
SOFIA’s infrared camera, used in conjunction with a 106-inch diameter telescope, picked up ‘the specific wavelength unique to water molecules, at 6.1 microns, and discovered a relatively surprising concentration in sunny Clavius Crater.’ This crater is one of the largest craters visible from Earth and is in the Moon’s southern hemisphere.
Casey Honniball is the lead author who published the results as part of her graduate thesis work at the University of Hawaii at M?noa. She is now a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Of the discovery, Honniball says, ‘Prior to the SOFIA observations, we knew there was some kind of hydration. But we didn’t know how much, if any, was actually water molecules – like we drink every day – or something more like drain cleaner. Without a thick atmosphere, water on the sunlit lunar surface should just be lost to space. Yet, somehow we’re seeing it. Something is generating the water, and something must be trapping it there.’ If you’d like to read the full paper, it has been published in Nature Astronomy.
Data gathered using SOFIA’s onboard camera shows water in Clavius Crater in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million, ‘roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface.’ Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters says, ‘We had indications that H2O – the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon. Now we know it is there. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration.’
It’s not a lot of water, about 1% of the water found in the Sahara desert, but it’s a significant discovery. The work of the SOFIA team has uncovered new questions about how water is created and how it persists on the airless Moon. Further, water is a critical resource in deep space exploration. NASA’s Artemis program is keen to learn more about the presence of water on the Moon, and ideally, discover a way to access water in its pursuit of establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon by 2030.
‘Water is a valuable resource, for both scientific purposes and for use by our explorers,’ said Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.’ Bleacher continues, ‘If we can use the resources at the Moon, then we can carry less water and more equipment to help enable new scientific discoveries.’
As to how the water molecules ended up on the surface remains an unanswered question. One theory is that ‘Micrometeorites raining down on the lunar surface, carrying small amounts of water, could deposit the water on the lunar surface upon impact.’ Another theory involves a two-step process ‘whereby the Sun’s solar wind delivers hydrogen to the lunar surface and causes a chemical reaction with oxygen-baring minerals in the soil to create hydroxyl’ which is then transformed into water by radiation from micrometeorites.
‘This illustration highlights the Moon’s Clavius Crater with an illustration depicting water trapped in the lunar soil there, along with an image of NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) that found sunlit lunar water.’ Image and caption credits: NASA/Daniel Rutter
SOFIA, which is a modified Boeing 747SP jetliner, typically focuses on very distant objects, such as black holes, galaxies and star clusters. In fact, the newly-published results are from SOFIA’s very first mission looking at the Moon. The team was essentially testing the tracking capabilities of its equipment, and this test produced a significant discovery. Additional flights will take a further look at the lunar surface.
SOFIA’s standard observations take place during a 10-hour overnight flight and captures images at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths. You can view some of the images it has captured by clicking here.
This is far from the first time NASA’s camera technology has produced meaningful, significant scientific discovery. Looking to the future, NASA’s Perseverance is currently about halfway to Mars, carrying a rover outfitted with a record-breaking 19 cameras. These cameras will capture incredibly detailed images of the Martian landscape.
Last year, Skylum Software added a new feature to Luminar, AI Sky Replacement. The fully automatic feature, powered by artificial intelligence, can almost instantly replace the sky in an image and relight the overall scene. Next year in Luminar AI, Skylum is taking the feature even further with its new Sky AI tool. Sky AI will add a much-requested feature, water reflections.
Skylum has published a new blog post and video, seen further below, showing off how water reflection will work in 2021 when it is added to Luminar AI, which is scheduled to release this year. As is the case with AI Sky Replacement, Sky AI and its water reflections feature will be fully automated.
Sky AI 1.0 (left) versus Sky AI 2.0 (right). Sky AI 2.0 includes the new water reflections functionality. Image credit: Elia Locardi
With Sky AI, when the software detects water in your scene and you replace the sky, Luminar AI will ensure that the new sky is accurately reflected in the water. As Skylum writes, ‘That means no more duplicating your scene, flipping it and applying a bunch of masking to make it look realistic.’ The reflected sky will also adapt on the fly to your selected relight settings and be ‘blurred into the scene without any manual work from you.’
Further, any details in the water in your scene, such as waterbirds, will stay in your scene and not be overwritten by the reflected sky. Sky AI recognizes the objects in your image and works to preserve fine details in a scene. You can check out the upcoming feature in the preview video below.
As you can see in the video above, Sky AI has a similar selection of sliders to what’s currently available in Luminar 4’s AI Sky Replacement tool. However, Skylum has added Water Reflection and Water Ripples sliders. You can control the intensity of the reflection and even add user-adjustable ripples to the reflection by using these new sliders.
Image credit: Daniel Kordan
In addition to the new water reflection capabilities of Sky AI, Skylum is also adding the ability to browse through your library of skies in a thumbnail viewer in 2021. The browser will show you a preview of each sky, whereas in Luminar 4, you have a list of the names of different skies, but no visual preview.
Sky AI is one of many exciting new features coming to Luminar AI. You can discover more about Skylum’s Luminar AI and view preorder options by clicking here.
The post Sparkling Water Still Life – Put some Fizz in your Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
Often the key to making a good photo is to show the commonplace in a whole new way. Bombarded by so many visual images each day, photo viewers need something that breaks the rules, that looks different to make them pause on your photo. This sparkling water still life technique will challenge your photo skills. It will teach you how to compose and light still life subjects, give you practice with editing tools and techniques, and help you create interesting images. Maybe best of all, you’ll have some fun.
Strongly backlit and filled with flash, these tulips were shot submerged in a vase of sparkling water. The image was flipped vertically in post-production. Canon 6D with Tamron 90mm f2.8macro lens – 1/20 sec. f/11 ISO 200
Perhaps another plus to this kind of photography (I write this holed up at home during isolation), is it can be done at home on the kitchen counter or wherever you like to work. You can then post your creation online, giving us all the enjoyment of viewing your image.
Shall we get started? Break out the bubbly!
Citrus slices make good subjects for this kind of photography as they look like they belong in sparkling water. Sliced thin, they are translucent, lending themselves to backlighting. Canon 6D with Tamron 90mm macro lens – Left – 1/4 sec. f/22 ISO 800 Right 1/30 sec. f/8 ISO 800This image was lit from below with an LED flashlight and from behind with a Lumecube Air.
What you’ll need
Sparkling water
You can use various kinds of carbonated waters or sodas (perhaps champagne if you’re feeling decadent). What you’re after are the bubbles. There are no rules here and so use what suits your vision.
For the images here, I found seltzer water well-suited to the purpose. It is crystal-clear, has good carbonation, and with no sugar added doesn’t leave a sticky mess when it comes time for cleanup.
The colored pencils were taped together, clamped to the rectangular vase, and lit from below with an LED flashlight.
Glass container
What you use will depend on the image you’re trying to create. I found a rectangular glass vase with flat sides well-suited for the purpose. A small aquarium could work well.
Of course, if the subject and the theme you seek are different, wine or champagne glasses could work too. The only consideration here is to think about how the glass may distort anything placed inside it.
Essentially the same shot, but substituting different color backgrounds for different looks. Canon 6D with Tamron 90mm macro lens – 1/10 sec. f/11 ISO 800
Subjects
There is no end to the items you might choose to submerge for a sparkling water still life photograph. I found that things that seem consistent with the theme to be good choices. The kinds of things one might find in a watery-bubbly environment.
Fruits and flowers can be good choices. You’ll also see I used shells and other aquatic items. Of course, other items with good color and interest become even more interesting covered with bubbles.
A quick dip into some science behind all of this – items with rougher surfaces, those with more nucleation sites where bubbles can form, can be more interesting. The flowers in my shots demonstrate this concept. Bubbles won’t form as easily on smoother, non-porous surfaces.
The surfaces of the roses and stem have many “nucleation sites” where the CO2 bubbles in the seltzer water can form. Canon 6D with Tamron 90mm macro lens – 1/30 sec. f/8 ISO 800
Cleanliness
Most often, you will be shooting close-up, very possibly with a macro lens, for this kind of photography. The smallest of items, scratches, and dirt on the glass container, dirt and other material suspended in the water and such, will all show up and perhaps even become places where bubbles might form.
You should scrupulously clean the container you will be using before you get started. Doing so will save you lots of time later trying to remove unwanted specks from your photo digitally.
These shots illustrate some difficulties you might have. The image on the left is straight out of camera. The slow shutter speed of 1/10th second was insufficient to freeze the motion of the bubbles leaving streaks. The starfish was buoyant and floated in the container which wasn’t large enough to allow it to fit fully in frame. The image at right is edited to remove some distractions, but this wasn’t going to be a keeper. Canon 6D with Tamron 90mm macro lens – 1/10 sec. f/22 ISO 800
Setup
Using your cleaned container, place the subject(s) you want inside before adding any liquid. Consider whether the subjects will float. Even if they are just slightly buoyant, once they are covered with bubbles, they are apt to get some extra lift. Be ready with some clamps, wire, tape, or other means of keeping them submerged and where you want them.
Compose and frame your shot. Depending on the subject size and how close you need to be, you may find a macro lens is needed. Other alternatives could be extension tubes, close-up filters, or a reversed-lens.
If you don’t need to be as close, you might put your camera further away and zoom into the shot.
NOTE: Do all of this before adding the water to the container. The bubbles will dissipate with time and you don’t want that happening while you’re still setting up.
Different containers will change the look of your subject, but the curved glass of this glass does distort the image the liquid in the submerged portion of the rose magnifies it making it seem larger than the above-water portion of the flower and the curve of the glass adds other distortions. Canon 6D with Tamron 90mm macro lens – 1/2 sec. f/20 ISO 800
Lighting considerations
This image shows lighting from below with a LED flashlight and from the front with a Lumecube Air.
This is a great opportunity to experiment with lighting sources and techniques.
Working in a glass container gives you the opportunity to light from almost any direction; top, bottom, front, back, left, right, or a combination of these. Whether you use flash, continuous lights, natural lighting, whatever you can come up with – it’s all up to you.
Definitely use this exercise as an opportunity to play and explore. Digital film is cheap. This shouldn’t be a one-and-done kind of shoot. Make lots of shots, exploring lighting placement, various apertures and shutter speeds, light modifiers, whatever you like.
Same subject, front-lit on the left, back-lit on the right. Canon 6D with Tamron 90mm macro lens – 1/13 sec. f/22 ISO 800Same image, different backgrounds. Experiment with different things! Canon 6D with Tamron 90mm macro lens – 1/10 sec. f/11 ISO 800
Backgrounds
The addition of bubbles to your subject will cause it to become a “busier” composition. Having a patterned background is apt to distract or overly complicate the image.
I find solid backgrounds, and often plain white or black to work best. (I’ll get into the advantages of those simple white or black backgrounds in a minute.) Again, this will depend on the look you are trying to achieve, but do give consideration to not only your subject but the background.
Canon 6D with Tamron 90mm macro lens – 1/13 sec. f/16 ISO 800
Editing and cleanup
I can almost guarantee your image will need some work in editing after the shoot. Simplifying and cleaning up things you don’t want will be necessary.
Adjusting highlights, shadows, white and black levels, and cloning out distractions will all improve your photo. Whatever your editing tools of choice might be, use this exercise as a means of teaching yourself more about what you can do and how to do it.
My tools of choice are Adobe Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.
Having a white or black background can help a lot in that with adjustments, the adjustment brush, the histogram highlight and shadow clipping tools, and the spot healing tool, I can often do whatever I need in Lightroom alone.
For tougher cloning or healing operations, I may escalate the edit into Photoshop.
Images with color backgrounds are apt to be more challenging. Again, use this exercise as a means of learning tools and techniques you might not have previously explored.
When editing an image in Lightroom with a black or white background, you may purposely want to have the background go totally black or white. Turning on the highlight/shadow clipping tools will show 100% black (0,0,0) areas in a blue highlight, totally white (255,255,255) areas in red. The “J” key is the shortcut to toggle this off and on. You can then use the adjustment brush, automask, and other LR to “paint out” distracting elements.
Flip it
Often while making a sparkling water still life, your subject will be down in the liquid. Don’t overlook the simple ability to flip your image vertically during editing to put it in a more natural viewing position.
Have fun!
Maybe the biggest reason for this table-top photo exercise is it is fun. You will be amazed at how you can make otherwise simple subjects much more visually exciting with the addition of some bubbles and creative lighting when you make sparkling water still life photos.
So, if you have to stay home, why not find ways to creatively use your time to expand your photo skills and make some nice images?
Give it a try, post your creations in the comments section of this article and be well my friends.
The post Sparkling Water Still Life – Put some Fizz in your Photos appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.
Photographers hoping to attend this year’s ‘Firefall’ waterfall event at Yosemite may be disappointed. The National Park Service has published an advisory warning that Horsetail Fall, the site of the Firefall event, has ‘little to no water.’
The Firefall event takes place in late February every year, giving photographers the opportunity to capture the Horsetail Fall illuminated with sunlight. During this time, the water turns bright orange and resembles fire or molten rock pouring over the edge of El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.
The lack of water, however, threatens to ruin this event; without water, obviously, there will not be a stream of ‘fire’ to photograph. Assuming the Firefall does happen, it will be visible from February 13 to 27 this year. In order to prevent issues from heavy traffic during this event, Horsetail Fall will have daily restrictions from noon to 7 PM during the aforementioned dates.
Water housing and accessory makers Aquatech has released its new AxisGo water housing for Apple’s iPhones. The company describes the new housing as ‘professional grade’ and says it can be used in ‘any water conditions, from rough surf to fishing and wakeboarding to a family swim session in the pool.’
The housing is designed for the phone to drop in and then seal tight. It’s rated for a depth of 10 meters (33 feet) and made from polycarbonate, aluminum and marine-grade stainless steel. Glass elements are optically corrected and the whole thing weighs a reassuring 510 grams (18oz).
The AxisGo is available as a basic package but more advanced users can also choose from a variety of grips and mounts, lens ports, accessories and bundle kits that support specific use cases, for example an Action Kit for surfing, wakeboarding or snowboarding,, or an Over-Under Kit, which comes with lenses that help you capture ‘split shots’ above and below the water line.
The AxisGo water housing is available now from $ 199 for a range of iPhone models including the latest iPhone 11 series. More information is available on the Aquatech website.
The post Creative Water Photography – A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Water Monsters appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ramakant Sharda.
Have you ever watched an alien movie and wondered how they created those monsters? You’d need a very powerful computer, animation software, and some special skills to create an animated or moving monster. However, you can easily create a series of still monsters by using water. I’ll show you how some creative water photography can enable you to create your own water monsters. It’s simple to do, with great effect!
So let’s get started!
1. What you need to make water monsters:
To do your creative water photography, you will (obviously) need a camera. You can use any DSLR or Mirrorless camera. In fact, you can use a point-and-shoot camera if it is capable of firing an external flash.
A standard lens, like a 24-70 mm, is good, as you don’t want your splash to go out of the frame. You also don’t want water splashes on your camera.
In addition to a camera, you will need an external flash and a cable or wireless trigger to fire the flash. Then you’ll need a large diffuser. You can use the translucent part of a five-in-one reflector, or you can use a butter paper sheet and paste it on a wooden frame. A reflector is a better choice here, as you don’t need to make a wooden frame, and it also won’t get damaged if some water spills on it.
You’ll need a light stand to affix the flash and a tripod for the camera.
If you have a portable water tub, you can do this shoot in a room. However, if you don’t have one, you’ll have to do it outside.
Also, you’ll need to wait until night, as you can’t do this shoot in daylight.
You’ll also need an assistant to throw the water so you can click the beautiful water monsters.
2. Setup:
The setup is pretty simple.
If you are shooting your water monsters indoors, place your water tub in the room and hang the diffuser behind it.
Set the flash a little bit farther away from the diffuser. If you have a round studio light reflector, use it. It’ll give you a nice, round light effect. If you don’t have one, that’s okay. You can just use the flash.
Fix your camera on the tripod and place it far from the water tub. You don’t want water splashes on your expensive camera, so you’re going to use it on full zoom. If you don’t have a 24-70mm lens, you can use a 100mm lens and place the camera farther.
See the image below to view the setup.
3. Camera and other settings:
Now you have done that, let’s talk about settings.
Place a stick at the center of the water tub and manually focus on it. Don’t forget to set your camera on manual focus after that.
Now you need to finish your camera settings and flash settings. First, we’ll do flash settings.
Change your flash to manual mode and set the power to 1/32. We’re doing this because when the flash is on lower power, it produces the shortest burst of light, which helps to freeze the subject. You can’t go above 1/32 power, as then you’ll start getting motion blur.
Now set the camera to manual mode.
Set your ISO to 100, aperture to f/16, and shutter speed to 1/200 sec or whatever your camera sync speed is. These are the settings I used in all my shots, and they’ll work for you, too.
An aperture of f/16 will give you enough depth of field, and the entire splash will be in focus. Make sure you’re shooting in RAW, too, as this will help in post-processing later.
If you are firing your flash using a radio trigger, set it up. Or if you are using a cable to fire it, attach the cable.
Now your setup is ready, so let’s talk about the workflow and start creating these beautiful water monsters.
Workflow:
Earlier, you placed a stick in the tub of water. Now remove it and replace it with something like a glass so that your assistant knows where the focus point is and throws the water accordingly. Also, tell your assistant about the area where your frame is so they won’t throw the water outside the frame.
Now all you need to do is press the shutter when your assistant throws the water.
They can throw the water in different ways. For example, they can fill both hands with water and throw it upside. Just make sure their hands don’t enter the frame.
Your assistant can use a mug or glass to throw the water, or they can throw it using two or three cups together.
Different methods of throwing water will give you different results.
Even if you use the same method of throwing, you’ll get different pictures every time.
Take at least 100 photos – the more, the better.
Post-processing:
Post-processing is quite simple.
First, select good photos from the pictures you’ve taken. If you have clicked 100 pictures, you’ll get 10-12 good photos.
Now open the RAW files in “Camera Raw” and change the white balance to 3000. It’ll convert your gray picture to a blue tone.
If you’re an advanced photographer and you can set custom white balance settings in your camera, set it to 3000 kelvin before the shoot. Then you won’t need to do it in post-processing.
Now you just need to clean up some extra water droplets, crop if needed, and sharpen it. Your water monsters will be ready.
When you’ve finished editing the photos, check out the other images one more time. You’ll find some images that you can merge and use to make something unique. For example, I made this butterfly using three images.
So, let’s do some creative water photography and make these amazing water monsters!
We’d love to see your results, too, so please sharing them in the comments.
Also, if you run into any problems, just comment on this post, and I’ll help you solve them.
The post Creative Water Photography – A Step-by-Step Guide to Making Water Monsters appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Ramakant Sharda.
The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Water appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
This week’s photography challenge topic is WATER!
Photo by Rick Ohnsman
Go out and capture absolutely anything that includes water. It could be waterfalls, seascapes, puddles, water splashes, people playing in water, etc. They can be color, black and white, moody or bright. Just so long as they include water! You get the picture! Have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Check out some of the articles below that give you tips on this week’s challenge.
Tips for Shooting WATER
8 Ways to Use Water in Photography to Add Impact
Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash
How to Create Silky Smooth Water Effects
How to Photograph Water Droplets on Glass
5 Fun Tips for Photographing Water
How to Create Colorful Artistic Images Using Oil and Water
Weekly Photography Challenge – WATER
Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer, upload them to your favorite photo-sharing site and leave the link to them. Show me your best images in this week’s challenge.
Share in the dPS Facebook Group
You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.
If you tag your photos on Flickr, Instagram, Twitter or other sites – tag them as #DPSwater to help others find them. Linking back to this page might also help others know what you’re doing so that they can share in the fun.
The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Water appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Caz Nowaczyk.
The post 8 Ways to Use Water in Photography to Add Impact appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jeremy Flint.
Water is a fantastic natural resource that can be used to create great photographs to be proud of. If you are looking to improve your images, including water as an element in your photos can work wonders. Water comes in many forms and can be a visually pleasing addition to a landscape or nature scene. It could represent the main point of interest in your photos or be a key part of your composition. At first, I would recommend identifying a water source you would like to capture, consider how to capture it and then create an image with impact. How you interpret a scene that includes water is purely a personal choice and depends on the water source you choose as your main subject. Here are eight ways to use water in photography to add impact:
Many origins make up our planet’s water supplies, each of which provides a unique and wonderful way to use water in your images.
Oceans make up a vast amount of the globe’s water and make a great feature in sunsets and coastal scenes. Seascapes are visually attractive and satisfying to capture. Depending on your approach to photographing seascapes, the sea can provide images with a sense of calm and flow or a snapshot of rapid activity. For example, photographing water using a slow shutter speed can lead to more fluid and interesting images where there is a representation of the water’s motion and movement. Alternatively, shorter shutter speeds can be used to create fast and dynamic images of seas in a static-looking fashion.
You may represent the sea as a prominent feature in your images blended into the surroundings. Alternatively, you may use it as an individual element like crashing waves or flowing around rocks.
Lakes, rivers, and streams can also add beauty to your images and can be found in cities and the countryside. These water sources provide a unique addition to a natural or urban landscape and are a great way to include water in your landscapes.
They can look great at different times of the year such as frozen rivers in the colder, winter months. Rivers, lakes and streams also provide reflections and symmetry when the conditions are still and calm. If you are heading out with your camera to photograph a lakeside or river bank, keep a look out for reflections that may be worth photographing.
There is something about a waterfall that provides a universal appeal. Waterfalls are such an incredibly attractive subject to photograph that it is hard not to be in awe of their majestic beauty, especially at first sight.
Have you ever stood for a moment beside a waterfall and just admired its sight and sound? Observing the waterfalls flow and listening to the sound of the gushing water is a joy to behold. Also, witnessing the view and taking in its scenic splendor is a mesmerizing experience. How you choose to include a waterfall in your image is entirely your choice. You may find they look great individually or can be incorporated as part of their wider environment to show the surrounding nature.
The water vapor that makes up mist and fog is a beautiful and atmospheric way to include water in your photographs. They make a great dreamy photo where mist and fog can provide an ethereal and elegant quality to your photography. They are well worth the effort in capturing them.
Although their appearance is often unpredictable, these elements are well worth the effort in capturing and can be used to generate spectacular images when included in your shots. Be aware that mist and fog can move quickly and consistently with the ability to disappear in an instant.
Photographing snow is another wonderful way to add water to your images. As taking photos of falling snow could end up with your gear getting wet, I would recommend taking images of snow after it has settled.
In terms of subjects, you could capture anything from a gorgeous snowy vista to portraits of people or animals. A white winter wonderland will be sure to elevate your images.
6. Shooting in the rain
Have you ever considered rain as a great water source to include in your images? Most people tend to head straight indoors at the first sight of rain. Why not break this trend and head out to photograph in the rain. Rain provides an interesting element that can be used to transform familiar scenes into something more refreshing such as cityscapes.
7. Reflections in puddles
With heavy rains, the residue water can lead to great puddles forming that give the opportunity to capture reflections. Puddle reflections are captivating to photograph. Subjects and scenes reflected in water provide a unique way to photograph the world around us as the water acts as a mirror and gives a different perspective on something ordinary.
8. Underwater photography
Take your camera below the water to discover the delights of underwater photography. There is an entirely different world of coral and marine life beneath the surface of our oceans. Of course, you will either need a waterproof camera or waterproof housing to protect your camera from the elements.
Conclusion
Whether you choose to photograph the sea, lakes and rivers, waterfalls, mist and fog, snow, rain or reflections; using water in your pictures is a great way to make your images stand out. Find the water source you want to photograph, identify a composition you like, take a shot and share your images of what you capture with us below. What other fun ways would you like to suggest to include water in your photography?
The post 8 Ways to Use Water in Photography to Add Impact appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Jeremy Flint.
Do you enjoy doing a nice experiment, that gives you colorful photographs? In this article, you’ll discover how you can create a photo of rainbow water droplets using simple household objects and your imagination. The technique uses the principles of refraction and applies it in an easy to use way.
A nice experiment to do while it’s raining outside, create your own water drops and photograph them in an experimental way. So it’s time to setup your home laboratory, and photograph droplets on a CD!
You can make some captivating rainbow colors by using this technique.
What you need to photograph water droplets on a CD
As mentioned, you’ll need just some simple household items to carry out this photo of rainbow water droplets. You’ll also need some camera equipment as well!
CD – This is what’s needed to create the rainbow effect, make sure the shiny surface is clean.
Water dropper – Any simple dropper will do, you could use an eye dropper perhaps.
A glass of water – You’ll need a supply of water handy.
A flashlight – Any flashlight or headlamp will work for this technique.
A camera – Your camera must be capable of doing long exposures.
A macro lens – This works best with a macro lens or a camera with a built-in lens capable of close-up photography.
A tripod – This is a long exposure technique, so you will need a tripod.
External shutter release – In a pinch, you could use the camera’s self-timer, but an external shutter release will be better.
These are the items you’ll need for this technique.
The method
The following describes the simple method you’ll need to follow when creating this style of photo. The most important thing is you’ll need a dark room.
Place your CD on a flat surface, this can either be a tabletop or the floor.
Add water droplets to the surface of the CD using the dropper. Make sure they make a nice pattern.
Now put your camera on the tripod.
Position the camera and tripod so that the camera is looking straight down onto the CD.
Focus the camera using manual focus and live view. Keep the camera in manual focus so that you retain the focus position. If your camera is on autofocus, when you turn the light off and hit the shutter, you will lose the focus.
Your camera should be set to expose for around 20-30 seconds, the aperture will need to be around f/10-14. This aperture allows for both the long exposure and keeps the depth of field for the water droplets wide enough to ensure they’re all focused.
Now switch the light off. Ensure the room is as dark as possible, so avoid one where there might be light seeping in from outside.
Hit the shutter or trigger to begin the exposure.
Turn your flashlight on. Make sure the light does not shine up directly into the lens element, use a lens hood if you have one.
Keep the angle of the light roughly vertical and slightly down towards the surface.
Now circle the light source around the CD, and let the magic happen! Adjust the length of time you do this for depending on how bright you wish the photograph to be.
Repeat and adjust as necessary. You may wish to try different angles for the torch (flashlight), the higher the torch the more light you’ll see on the reflective surface of the water drop. Using different camera angles may also work well too.
The basic setup for this photo looks like this. It will of course be dark when you expose the image.
Other water droplet experiments
This is not the only way to photograph droplets, there are in fact a host of different methods out there. Here is a brief list you could also try out.
Water droplet – Taken using water dripping into a tub, and captured using a strobe. This is a great technique to try out.
Water droplets on glass – Use refraction to make amazing photos with water drops, and repeating patterns.
Water droplets after the rain – This one you’ll need to go outside for. Photographing droplets on flowers or spiderwebs always looks nice.
There are lots of other ways you can photograph droplets. This is taken with droplets on glass.
Start creating your water droplet photos!
Photographing droplets is a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy trying out this idea. Have you ever tried photographing droplets before? Did you use a CD to do it, or one of the other methods mentioned in this article.
As always I’d love to see your images in the comments section, together with any comments you may have.
Using closer framing, or different angles can change the look of the photo.
Changing the angle of the flashlight to a higher angle means you’ll catch the light reflection on the CD’s. Play with it until you get the look you like.
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