Mirrors

My Local Lake (Digital & Instant)

On the way back from chemistry lab, I pulled my hood over my already-beanie-covered head so it wouldn't come flying off.  The wind was brutal, and frankly, I missed the abnormally warm weather outside here at State College.  Snow was falling—attacking my face on its way down to its permanent settling place.

Snow is great, don't get me wrong.  It makes for some of the most serene, smooth landscapes and I'd rather look at snow falling than rain.  When it comes to photography, though, I prefer my water otherwise.  In gaining the ability to transform what's below into a winter wonderland, snow loses the ability to reflect.

Bodies of water, next to trees, are some of my favorite things to shoot while out and about.  With a camera, you can make water do whatever you want—make things look frozen in time, or add a sense of motion to an otherwise mundane picture.  I live around a small lake, and it's pretty beautiful any time of year.  Along with its versatility, I think water gives me a sense of home.  The photo-within-photo at the top of this post showcases some the lake's beauty as seen from the top of a small pier.  The lush green helps frame the lake and adds a dimension to the large reflection seen in the top half of the picture.  The midpoint of the reflection serves as a horizon that lies one-third to the top of the picture, utilizing the rule of thirds.  The "outer" picture, too, utilizes the rule of thirds, as the picture I'm holding lies within the middle third of the photo both horizontally and vertically.   (Taking pictures like these is a hassle, though.)

The picture above was taken at the prime of the summer, when the mosquitos nearly ate me alive as I walked around the lake.  The one below, was shot at the opposite end of the spectrum, during the midst of winter.  Clouds that looked like wispy, white, pulled-apart cotton candy stretched across the sky.  The dry air was accompanied by layers of ice that covered the surface of the lake.  I looked over to an area by the path that runs around the water, where pebbles and skip-worthy stones alike created a natural outlook for lake-viewers.  The ice atop the lake hadn't yet made its way to the edge of this area and I seized my chance:

In gaining the ability to transform what's below into a winter
wonderland, snow loses the ability to reflect (Digital)

I caught the clouds right in the stretch of water that remained unaltered by the cold.  Imagine some snow in the place of the vivid reflection, and the photo would be unrecognizable.  I managed to catch just enough blue to establish a gradient.  The lightness of the clouds coordinates with the ice while the rocks and darkening sky match lower down the photo.  Water is a pretty cool mirror.

Water can also be a photographer's dream in how it can change its color on the fly.  Moreover, the liquid helps in adding texture and deep blue contrast to the outskirts of the ocean to the pictures below.  Water here, turns a desert into a beach:

At Cape Cod (Digital)

Photo to the left, mirrored 180 degrees horizontally with additional edits (Digital)

The natural gradient created by the beach and surrounding waters inclined me to make some edits to the picture as well.  Though I liked how the photo looked originally, I decided to experiment by including a 180-degree horizontal reflection and adjustments to the further emphasize the contrast within the photo.  The increase in contrast also highlights the footprints and shadows that they create, which similarly increases the depth of the photo.  Your eyes can follow the sand banks to the figures in the center of the photo and this effect is doubled with the reflection on the right.  The Inception-like edit worked out for this photo in particular.

Why do I like water so much?  Other than the versatile hues and textures offered by the substance, water inspires my photography to evolve into something more fluid and sometimes, more reflective—both literally and figuratively.  So next time you're at the beach, try using the water in a creative way in some of your photos.  Or maybe, just enjoy the awesome weather.  Hopefully, these last couple of photos were able to bring you to a warmer place for even just a moment.