EASY MONET

Be an Impressionist in three steps

The Impressionists tried to recreate the experience of seeing, rather than capturing every detail. Well, today’s Nikons capture an awful lot of detail, but as this quick and easy technique shows, you don’t have to make the most of every last pixel to get striking results.

If you want to take a photograph specifically for this project, you’ll need to find a gently rippling body of water. A river or lake with a colourful scene above is ideal. The height you shoot from will affect your scene; at the level of the water the reflection will be longer but more blurred. Lift your camera higher and the reflection will be shorter, but also more sharp.

You will need the water to be fairly still. Use a tripod to hold the camera steady and allow for a longer shutter speed. An exposure of two to three seconds will blend slight water ripples together. You may need to use Neutral Density filters to make longer shutter speeds possible.

Once you’ve shot an image, it will take no time at all to tweak it in Photoshop to make it look as if it was painted by one of the Masters.