WORK WITH WATER

Use still or flowing water to add balance and energy to your landscapes

If you live in the UK you have the good fortune to live fairly close to the ocean wherever you are. Furthermore, all of that rain we complain about has the effect of keeping our lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, becks and brooks filled for the majority of the year, so when it comes to shooting landscapes with water, we’re spoiled for choice. Once you’re accustomed to working bodies of water into your landscapes, shots without them can seem oddly dull. This is due to the reflective properties of water, which bounce much of the light from the sky back into the scene, filling in shadows and applying washes of reflected colour.

Reflections add a symmetry that can produce a feeling of balance in otherwise sparse frames. Even the smallest of puddles can fill in a gap, such as an area of dull concrete or muddy foreground, neither of which would likely be considered attractive, and draw together all zones of the composition. Be aware that reflected images can take the eye away from the ‘real’ subject, so use caution in how much space each takes up in the shot. You will also have to balance the exposure for both the reflection and the real surfaces, since the water will absorb a percentage of the light and underexpose the duplicated detail. Start with +2/3 EV exposure compensation.

Meanwhile, moving water can give scenes a more dynamic feel, emphasising that there’s a living landscape in your pictures. As stills photographers we’re at a disadvantage compared to videographers in that we can only capture a single moment; a longer exposure of a moving subject breaks that wall, and simulates the passage of time, something that surprisingly few photographers think to apply to a landscape.

The inclusion of moving water comes with its own considerations, such as exposure length and placement of the water to divide up the shot. With long, thin streams and rivers, avoid splitting the composition down the middle or into disparate areas. Having a stream run straight through the frame can create a visual barrier between the viewer and the subject, which looks uncomfortable. First, find a good place for the main subject, then pivot around this until any water either leads to this object or wraps around it, creating a frame in which everything feels joined up.

FULL STOP Placing an object along the horizon provides somewhere for the eye to settle BOUNDARIES The real subject is the boundary between land and water. Shoot diagonally along the coast to highlight this element WIDESCREEN CROP Coastlines are long and thin, so complement this with a longer aspect ratio to minimise unnecessary areas of foreground or sky CAMERA PITCH A three-quarters foreground/sky division can work well, with the dominant area selected based on the interest it contains