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PHOTOGRAPHY HAPPENINGS August 2016

Photographing the Red Rocks Country
Using the Mirrors of Nature: Capturing Reflections in Water
By David L. Brown

Is it sometimes OK for a photographer to see double? When Nature provides a natural mirror in the form of water, the answer is, absolutely. When your main subject can be seen again in an upside-down reflection it can create fascinating images.

Capturing a reflection requires water that is still, or nearly so. The wave-swept ocean or a rolling stream cannot serve as natural mirrors. Look for ponds or lakes when the wind is still, or quiet pools along streams.
Making great reflection images isn’t as easy as it seems. Not only do you need smooth water, but also an interesting subject to reflect. And, the subject must be positioned so that you can make its reflection appear in the water.
An example is Fig. 1, a scene in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains, reflected in a quiet lake in early morning. I walked down to the water’s edge from my campsite and immediately saw that the water was calm, providing a bright reflection of the mountains beyond. I composed the picture with a few shoreline details to provide a base for the image, giving it apparent depth.

When photographing reflections a polarizing filter is often useful, by rotating the filter to remove light striking the water from the sky. This will make the reflected subject jump out. Buying and learning to use a polarizer is one of the best things you can do to improve your landscape photographs.

Fig. 2 offers another example of a reflection photo, this one made along Duck Creek in southwestern Utah. I noticed the grove of blazing yellow aspens and walked along the nearby creek until I found a stretch of still water to serve as a mirror. Note how the larger group of trees was positioned at the one-third area at the left side of the composition, in keeping with the rule-of-thirds I wrote about last month.*

As with the previous photo, this photo was made on film with a Linhof 4x5 inch view camera.

Still another effect is demonstrated in Fig. 3, a picture made at Navajo Lake, high in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains at the headwaters of the West Fork of the Dolores River. The stark glacial landscape is repeated to create an interesting composition. If you’re interested in visiting this nearby location, the scenic trail to Navajo Lake is 9.2 miles round trip with an altitude change of 1834 ft.

Here’s yet another example, this time a reflection in a forest service pond along a Jeep trail above Aspen, Colorado in the West Elk Mountains (Fig. 4). Here the reflection is less prominent than in the previous examples, letting the snow-capped mountain and fall aspens dominate while adding a touch of reflected brilliance by the snow capped mountains reflected in the water. In this case a light breeze was creating ripples in the pond, giving the reflection a soft effect.

There are relatively few opportunities for reflection photos around Moab, but there are some places to apply these techniques. Warner Lake in the La Sal Mountains is an excellent example and I included an example in my March Moab Happenings column*. After rains, water-filled potholes on slickrock become potential mirrors, for example near the Three Gossips in Arches National Park. Sometimes even stretches of the Colorado River can provide nice reflections when the water is calm.

Next time you’re out photographing, keep an eye out for a chance to start seeing double, by viewing the landscape with the aid of Nature’s mirrors.

You can find August Sunrise/Sunset times on the Night Sky Happenings, on page 18A.
* See article archive online.

 

 

Fig. 1 – Jagged peaks of the Sawtooth Mountains lit by early morning light are repeated in the still waters of a mountain lake.

 

Fig. 2 – Blazing yellow aspens line up to have their portrait made, and the beauty is multiplied in the still waters of Duck Creek.

 

 

Fig. 3 – A barren glacial landscape high in the San Juan Mountains is reflected in the still waters of Navajo Lake, at the headwaters of the Dolores River’s West Fork.

Fig. 4 – A pond in the Rocky Mountains near Aspen, Colorado reflects a majestic mountain peak and fall aspens.




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