taking Better Photographs... Water

By Steve Marshall

Water is one of the best things you can use in photography Moving or still and whether enhancing other objects or the main subject of the picture it is always worth looking for

Leaving steam and clouds aside – water can be moving still or frozen Moving water can be captured in at least two ways – frozen or stretched in time Still water can reflect and refract and enhance the subject of an image By frozen I refer to frost, ice and snow all of which can produce fascinating pictures

The faster water is moving the more it lends itself to that movement being captured in the instant – as in the picture of the breaking wave

The key to this sort of image is the fastest shutter speed you can manage This was taken a 1 /4000th of a second and still some bits of spume are not perfectly sharp

If you are not confident to do this on manual I recommend using the shutter priority setting – usually on the dial at the top of the camera You probably have M A S and Auto – being Manual

Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Auto

Set your shutter to the fastest it allows, take lots of shots and see what you can capture Slower moving water can look at its best when exposures are stretched into seconds And achieving these can get a little more technical

For longer exposures – my beach scene is 2 5 seconds – you really need a tripod or at least something solid to rest the camera on Waves on sand are usually best if you start the exposure just before an inbound wave starts to recede Shutter priority will allow a long exposure but in ordinar y daylight the camera may find it impossible to adjust ever ything else to work

Most cameras will take neutral density or nD – filters that reduce the light and allow longer exposures

Reflections in water can be beautiful and the lake in front of the mountain is one of my favourites This could almost have been taken on auto but I set a relatively high aperture to ensure good depth of field with focus from front to back

The most important thing for photos like these is arriving before you think the light will be at its best That gives you time to walk the space and assess the shape of image you want I particularly liked the reeds in the foreground and the cur ve of land falling on the left through to the trees rising on the right

And then you wait A tripod is really useful so you do not have to carr y the camera

I visited the evening before as the blue hour has its own magic and spent nearly two hours there in the morning I had some good shots early on, and once this was taken the colours were gone in twenty minutes

Water on flowers and cobwebs can do wonderful things

Always think about the light Can you shoot with the light behind the cobweb? Can you catch some light in the water on a flower

I saw these elderberries one damp morning walking the dog so came back immediately with the camera The dog liked the idea of a second walk but would have preferred not to have to wait for his breakfast

For these elderberries I tried a number of different focus set ups I finally selected spot focus on the water droplet which allows most of the image to soften I think this draws the viewer ’ s eye to the water and the inverted scene behind it Ice and snow can enhance objects and sometimes change them quite dramatically

In Februar y 2020 we had unusual weather – what the meteorologists call freezing rain Supercooled drops land on objects at or below freezing and freeze into a fine layer As more rain falls it freezes building up the ice

This acer lives in a pot outside our house and grew an entire translucent ice coat

And the key to the shot is that it is into the light so the ice almost looks as if it is lit from within,

Tr y to give yourself enough time to consider multiple possible shots and enjoy your photography

If

You need to decide how you want to catch the water Cobwebs are often flat which can make it easier to get the whole subject in focus Flower shots will var y depending on whether you are photographing directly at a single bloom or taking a wider shot

While you re out exploring over the summer why not take Steve s advice by snapping some photos of the beautiful scenery? Share your favourite snaps on our Facebook page, and we'll showcase the most impressive shots If a particular monument or building has ever piqued your curiosity feel free to contact us and we ll endeavour to uncover its secret Send your suggestions and ideas to info@thedeuxsevresmonthly fr, and let's explore the Deux-Sèvres together Boost

The Dog Days of Summer are here the ‘lawn’ crunches underfoot the bright colours of spring and early summer are faded and everything and everyone seems to struggle in the heat

But the garden and hedgerows still hold on to their beauty in a more subtle way, with an abundance of fancy and intricate seed heads to help disperse seeds far and wide

Many a keen gardener will have deadheaded before the seed heads fully ripen to encourage continued flowering, but those who wish to preserve seeds may well be lucky enough to have all sorts of seed heads around them

Take time to appreciate their form and function that have inspired any of mans own inventions some shake seeds all around like poppies ‘pepper-pots’, whilst California poppies spring open once ripe, casting their seeds a little further afield Some fasten tight to clothes or entangle themselves in fur with hooks or spikes, to be carried even further, and of course, some are light and airy to drift on the wind

Different seed heads are sturdier than others thus lending themselves to a variety of craft projects

Here s a simple but effective way to preserve the golden seeds of a summer field