Water-themed photography is a broad field. Whether you are looking to capture stunning long exposure landscapes or breathtaking reflections, there is a lot that can be done. That said, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach for water-themed photography. In addition to a solid command over the basics of photography, you also need a thorough understanding of your equipment, and must have the perseverance to keep trying until you get that perfect shot. To help you in your journey, we present four photography tips that should come in handy in capturing those mesmerizing water-themed masterpieces.

1. Consider Underexposing your Shot

It isn’t uncommon to find stills in which water is overexposed and ends up looking plain white. Well, over-exposure is the one to blame in such a case. Your camera meter may not detect water when it is just a part of your frame, resulting in an overexposed shot. When capturing stills where water bodies are present, you may want to play around with the manual exposure settings to find a perfect middle ground to avoid such overexposure of water. Locate the plus and minus (exposure compensation) buttons on your camera and tweak the exposure settings till you achieve the desired output.

2. Try Experimenting with LED Lights

When capturing swimming pools and such water bodies in specific, it helps to experiment with LED lighting. Doing so can not only help you play around with the lighting but also with the color of the water as well. The next time you photograph a swimming pool in the evening, watch out for in-pool LED lighting and think of ways to leverage it to add depth and sophistication to your stills.

3. Keep Varying the Shutter Speed

Dreamy-looking water bodies and water splashes are two things most photographers would want to capture when clicking water-themed stills. Such stills can be easily captured by varying the shutter speed. While a long shutter speed can help you shoot dreamy-looking water bodies(eg. 5-10sec exposure), short shutter speed (eg. 1/500s) can help you capture water splash. All you need to do is find the ideal shutter speed setting for your desired shot.

4. Find the Best Time to Capture Reflections

Capturing reflections can be fairly simple, provided you know the right time to capture them. Evenings and mornings are generally the best times to capture stunning reflections on water bodies such as lakes and rivers. You may want to position your camera in such a way that you would capture more of the reflections and less of the shoreline. Also, try capturing both the shore and reflections in equal parts for introducing a sense of balance in your stills.

The Last Word

Apart from a grasp of photography skills, the key to capturing amazing water-themed shots lies in planning ahead. Decide upon the theme, location, and the right time for shooting in advance. If you want to upskill and learn useful Nikon photography tricks, join www.CaptureWithNikon.in, Nikon India’s online photography community, and learn the tricks of the trade from seasoned experts. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about our online photography community, simply call 1800-102-7346, or fill out our contact form and we’ll take it from there.