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Working with Water
Have you thought of joining one of our photographic workshops? Water is one of the most vital substances on earth and as a result many animals and birds are to be found in close proximity to it. For wildlife photographers this is good news. When, for example, we were busy shooting pictures for our Big Cats of MalaMala book, much of our time was spent working the riverine areas of the reserve as well as the veld around some of the more permanent pans. And it paid off. As we moved away from water the density of animals definitely dropped off. But aside from increasing your chances of finding animals water is an excellent photographic subject in itself and is well worth spending some time on. Reflections, movement, water drops on flowers after rain, spray, rainbows, waterfalls, puddles on rocks are just but a few things worth shooting.  Some
years ago a friend and I headed up to Cobham in the Ukhahlamba
Drakensberg Park to do some pictures for a brochure on the park. What
was required were some photographs illustrating the “cave”
accommodation that is available and after a fair bit of searching we
found a small overhang that was fitted the bill. Cascading over the
entrance to the cave was a small waterfall – just what we wanted.
It added a little interest to the picture and more than a little fun
when we had finished the pictures for the brochure. We decided to see
just how many different ways we could photograph the water. The first
and most obvious is to use a fairly high shutter speed (1/500 or 1/1000
of a second) to “freeze” the water making every droplet
sharp and clear. This seems to add a feeling of power to the water
– a lot of pent up energy just waiting to happen.Next we slowed the shutter speed way down to about one or two seconds to achieve a completely different effect. Because the water was moving it blurred out completely resulting in a soft, gentle, fluffy cascade, the rock and vegetation staying sharp. Obviously, for these long exposures, the camera needs to remain steady (we will get onto some other techniques just now when we don't need the camera still) and so a tripod, bean bag or some other support mechanism needs to be brought into play. Depending on the lighting conditions it may be necessary to use some form of neutral density filter to help get those shutter speeds down. A polarising filter makes and excelled ND filter and perhaps you should be using it anyway to cut reflections on those wet rocks which will help colour saturation. So what next? Multiple exposures using both long and short shutter speeds. Just remember that because you are exposing the film to light twice, or even 3 or 4 times you need to underexpose each separate exposure so that the total will be correct. Underexpose by 1 stop if you are going to do a double exposure and 2 stops if you are going to do 4 exposures. Other things worth trying are: Add a little fill flash to both the long and short exposures that we talked about above. It will add a some sparkle to the water and freeze some of it in the long exposure shot – both different effects. Try using a long exposure but instead of keeping the camera steady follow the water falling so that it is relatively sharp while everything else will be blurred. And then add some fill flash to this one as well. Don't stop here. Use your imagination. What I often do after I have photographed something is to sit back and try to figure what I haven't done. What other way could we do this? How else can I look at this subject so that the picture will be new and fresh? Reflections in water are another great subject and just like the waterfall, fooling around with the shutter speeds when the water is in motion can greatly change the effects one gets. This is one of the situations where a polarising filter should not be used, or if it is then be very careful not to dial in too much of the effect. A polarising filter removes reflections from non metallic surfaces and if we are trying to shoot reflections in water then the last thing we need is to remove them! What often works quite well is to find a section of river that is in shadow but the rest of the scene on the other side of it is in sunlight. The reflections will be particularly strong and if you isolate them with a fairly long lens it is possible to get some very interesting abstract images. The sea can be another great subject and similar techniques that we used on the waterfall can also be used here. Just be very careful for two reasons. The 
first and most obvious is to avoid getting washes off the rocks. It is
so easy to become completely divorced from your surroundings when
looking through the lens that, before you know it, you're right on the
edge and then swimming. I often get someone to keep a lookout for me
when I'm in these situations. The other thing is that the last thing
you need is for your brand new, all electronic, wizz bang camera to get
it splashed with salt water. I learnt this the hard way and it cost a
fortune to get the camera repaired and I was lucky!But to get back to where we started with the animals, be sure to watch for reflections when animals are near water. It can greatly enhance the picture although one does need to keep an eye on composition, as it is only too easy to end up with the image “cut in half” by the water line. Try to keep the focal points (usually, but not always, the eyes on living subjects) on the thirds in the viewfinder. The hides at Mkhuze Game Reserve are ideal for photographing animals and water, particularly in the dryer months when the water at the hides it all there is. If there's something that you would like to read about in this column or questions you have , feel free to contact me on e-mail at info@africaimagery.com . I will try to get back to you but things sometimes get a little hectic around here so please forgive me if I don't. It will, though, help to give me an idea of what you want to know. |
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