Following on from my Trees Challenge, let’s look at another substance that can be great fun to capture and experiment with.

Water is the essence of life and is often the inspiration behind many photos.

There are a million projects that you can do where water is the subject.

From the obvious or simplistic, to the more complicated and abstract.

Here are a few ideas to get you started and to get you taking pictures!

This is a challenge so after reading through my examples and ideas, I want you to have a go and get some great images. The best examples I will include in a future article, with links to the creator’s social media/website. Show me what you can do by sending your photos to me at:

E-mail: info@drlphotography.co.uk

Disclaimer

All images shared with me will remain the property of the creator and will only be displayed with their permission. If you wish to use your own watermark to protect your images and show your brand, then please do. Anyone that has a go at the challenge and communicates with me, shall get a personal response and I hope we can discuss photography more. Your images will never be sold by me or anyone associated with this site. They are your images.

These photography challenges are about creating a community and inspiring creativity for you (my readers) and for myself. It is meant as a way of inspiring each other, critiquing each other and discussing new techniques and ideas.

Water in the Landscape

The majority of landscape photos on the internet will often include some kind of water element. It’s a natural focal point. Whenever I am scouting for locations I particularly pay attention to nay water source in the landscape.

Rivers winding through the landscape creating leading lines, s-curves and interesting features that can divide the monotony and add interest to a vista.

Waterfalls often make amazing subjects in and of themselves, with strong rock formations either side that can really draw you into the picture.

Lakes can offer great reflective surfaces extending their surroundings and creating more dynamic images, particularly when paired with great light from sunrise or sunset.

Sea can be a great subject offering a remoteness and isolation that can create moody and thoughtful images.

Puddles act like miniature lakes in a city scape, reflecting the lights, passers-by, and buildings of their surroundings and creating a more intriguing subject, like a looking glass into another world.

If you want to photograph water in the landscape, then I must recommend that you read my article ‘3 Essential Items Every Landscape Photographer Needs’ because you will more than likely need all 3 if you want to capture some amazing water landscapes. In particular you will need a tripod and a filter kit.

That being said you can still get some great results without them but they will up your creativity and composition considerably.

I often use a 6-stop neutral density filter by Lee Filters, called the Little Stopper. This enables me to slow my shutter down considerably, even to 15 or 30 seconds.

You might be wondering why would you do that?

The simple answer is because water is often moving and I don’t want to freeze the action but to put the sense of flow into my picture. By using the Little Stopper I can make waterfalls and rivers look creamy and as if they flowing in the picture. Instead of a random mess of frozen ripples. Similarly when taking pictures of the sea, I can create a milky vista that makes it seem otherworldly.

Another essential piece of kit for water landscapes is a pair of wellies (UK for long rubber boots), so you can get into your subject by a few feet. You can remove the land completely and get closer to subjects in the water. Plus it means you don’t have to be worried about getting your feet wet!

Water Abstracts

Because of its reflective nature and that it moves freely, you can create some amazing abstract images. All of the water sources mentioned above can create some really interesting abstracts if you focus on particular areas.

Lakes often reflect their surroundings creating a mirror of the landscape but if there is a wind then the landscape suddenly undulates and distorts, creating some amazing images if you can focus on one particular area.

Doug Chinnery has been experimenting a lot with abstract techniques and using water reflections for abstract creations. His work is really inspiring and can make you see the world in a new light. Along with how the water reflects and moves naturally, Doug uses ICM or Intentional Camera Movement and multiple exposures to create dynamic and unique images. It is definitely worth the effort to make a project inspired by him and to support his new book focusing on mental well being and photography.

ICM and multiple exposures will be covered in a further article because they can be great projects in themselves. So stay in touch if those ideas interest you!

Rivers and waterfalls can also create some amazing abstract images by zooming in on specific areas of movement and experimenting with exposure lengths.

The same goes for the sea, isolating particular waves or patterns in the ocean can create some really interesting water abstract images.

All of these subjects where movement can create abstract images can be accentuated by weather, stormy, rain, wind, snow, clouds, all of these adverse conditions can help you create abstract images.

Water in the Studio

You don’t have to be limited to water in the natural world either. In the studio you have full control of all the variables. You can experiment with different colour backgrounds or objects from around the house, different lighting and colours, different vessels to hold the water or ways of dripping, spraying or moving the water.

You can experiment with focal lengths and depth of field or bokeh. Another interesting experiment with water in the studio would be multiple exposures.

There are a multitude of image opportunities that you can create in the studio. You can use various props and objects to explore and create new projects. This is an area that I haven’t had much experience in, but is definitely something that I would like to explore more in the future. I’ll keep you updated on my efforts!

Conclusion

Water is the essence of life and it can be a great source of inspiration and creativity. There are a multitude of ways that you can explore this element using photography.

You can capture natural water features in the landscape, create abstract isolated images, or experiment in the studio.

You can use longer exposures, or experiment with multiple exposures or ICM. You can create dynamic and interesting images with reflections or accentuated movement.

I hope you have found some inspiration for a new project with water as the main subject. You don’t have to do everything I suggested but I hope that one or more of the ideas I’ve talked about has given you an idea or sparked some creativity for you.

Remember you can share your results with me and I’ll give you some advice. The best of these will feature in a future article. You can share your results with me via:

E-mail: info@drlphotography.co.uk

Disclaimer

All images shared with me will remain the property of the creator and will only be displayed with their permission. If you wish to use your own watermark to protect your images and show your brand, then please do. Anyone that has a go at the challenge and communicates with me, shall get a personal response and I hope we can discuss photography more. Your images will never be sold by me or anyone associated with this site. They are your images.

These photography challenges are about creating a community and inspiring creativity for you (my readers) and for myself. It is meant as a way of inspiring each other, critiquing each other and discussing new techniques and ideas.