Water photography is one of the most challenging areas for a new photographer. Water tends to have a lot of movement, can create a number of unwanted reflections and can require more specialized equipment than the standard amateur photographer usually has available. However, with some practice, photographs of ponds and lakes can be among the most iconic and mesmerizing in a photography portfolio. Any photographer wishing to expand his talents into the realm of landscape photography should learn properly photograph bodies of water.
Instructions
1. Use a wide angle lens on your camera to capture a broad landscape. Unless you are planning specifically to shoot creatures in the water, there tend not to be specific details in ponds and lakes that require the use of a long telephoto lens. Wider lenses will give your photographs more context and, as a result, more visual appeal.
2. Attach a polarizing filter to your lens. These filters remove glare from the surface of the water. In ripply ponds and lakes, this can be the difference between a good photograph and a great one.
3. Shoot in the morning or at dusk to avoid harsh mid-day lighting. Additionally, there tends to be less activity in ponds or lakes during this time, and less wind, which means the amount of waves and ripples in the water will be reduced.
4. Set your camera to a small aperture (large f-stop number). Anything between f/8 and f/22 should provide sufficient depth of field to keep the entire pond or lake in sharp focus.
5. Choose a slow shutter speed to induce a slight blur on the water. The effects of ripples can be minimized with a slower shutter speed, and longer exposures will give a desirable "milky" quality to the pond or lake. Anything slower than 1/15 of a second will achieve this effect, but exposures of 1/2 of a second or longer are best.
6. Mount your camera on a tripod to minimize the effect of camera shake during long exposures.
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