Crystal Lake Reflection

[Mark Schaefer]

Comments and critiques are welcome.

Abstract photographs, like modern art, may not be everybody's cup of tea. However, abstract reflections are something that I like to pursue during the autumn foliage season. The photographer may choose to focus on the reflection, on the surface of the water, or perhaps some point in between. I generally focus on the surface of the water which throws the reflected object into soft focus and may create an interesting abstraction. This creates a challenge as the surface of the water will not be parallel to the camera's film (or sensor) plane. Stopping down the aperture is not a viable option as this would force a shutter speed far too slow to freeze any surface ripples on the water - and the ripples are what makes these images interesting.

I use a tilt-shift lens, specifically the Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 L-series lens. I also have 1.4x and 2x teleconverters to provide additional focal length options. Generally only a slight amount of tilt on the lens is necessary to get the entire surface in focus. Achieving the correct amount of tilt requires some practice. The common tendency is to use to much tilt. But one should be able to see when both the near and far edges of the water are in simultaneous focus. The Canon tilt-shift lenses are manual focus. For this exercise the shift control (perspective control) is not needed.

My camera is a Canon XTi (400D), I was using the 2x L-series teleconverter, so the effective focal length with the 2x and1.6 factors was 288mm. I shot wide open at f/2.8, but with the 2x converter the aperture is effectively f/5.6. ISO was set to 1600 to enable a fast shutter speed which was 1/1250 second. I also find it necessary to use some exposure compensation which varies greatly with the reflected subject. No filters were used. A tripod was to used so that I can take a series of identically framed images and then select the most interesting ripple effects.

The colors are not as vibrant as I am accustomed to with Velvia and Astia slide films, however, being able to crank up the ISO is a big plus with the digital camera. The digital colors do not appear to shift as with pushing slide films. The image is straight out of the camera, no crop or other alterations were made other than reducing the image size to post the photo.

The location is Crystal Lake in the village of Rhinebeck, NY. It is helpful to find a location and time of day where the trees being reflected are in bright sun, but the surface of the water is in shadows to minimize any potential glare on the surface of the water. A polarizing filter is not a viable option for color saturation or glare reduction as it will also reduce the reflection. Patience is a key. One needs to wait out the heavy gusts and for just a slight breeze to produce some ripples. Fish, insects, falling leaves, and a tossed pebble may also produce some interesting concentric ripples. It is necessary to shoot an abundance of images as many will fail to be interesting. I shot about 450 images at this location of which perhaps 50 will be keepers.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I like it. It forced me to think about whether it was a photo or a painting, so as an abstract, it is effective.

Tim

 

[kmorgan]

I like it, has a 'water glass' look to it. Makes me think of a water glass panel over a stained glass panel.

Nice idea.

Kevin

 

[DougPaul]

Interesting effect.

BTW, you may be able to use the polarizing filter to enhance the reflection. The light from the bottom will be unpolarized, so a polarizer will block half of it at any orientation. If you set the polarizer for max reflection (90 degrees from min reflection), you should be able to block a greater percentage of bottom light than reflected light.

Doug

 

[darren]

I like the shot, it has a nice painting feel to it. It would look nice printed in a large format on canvas.

Good use of the equipment to achieve your desired result. Beyond composition, knowledge of equipment really helps set up a shot and you demonstrate it here.

- darren

 

[ROCKYSUMMIT]

Nice shot Mark. Reminds me of a Monet painting. Pretty cool.

 

[Mark Schaefer]

Thanks for the comments. I do plan to try Doug's suggestion about using a polarizer. Usually I am up against the wall with barely acceptably shutter speeds with ISO 1600. The polarizer might push the images into too much of a blur. But I am sure there will be occasions when I can use the polarizer. If anyone is interested I have created a photo album of other images from this location. There is also one image of the general scene which illustrates the key of having sun lit trees being reflected in a surface of the water which is in shade: