Lessons Learned: Water colors

Water, and the things that float on it, are reflected in it, or are refracted through it can create some very interesting photographs. Another image I shot at this particular stream, located just off Hothole Pond in North Orland, included all three: foliage reflected in still water, leaves floating on the surface of the water, and leaves on the bottom of the stream refracted by the clear water. The result is an almost surreal leaf-world image.

I like the shape of this cluster of leaves gathered on an obstruction in the stream, then formed by the downstream flow. I like the color-complementary blue sky reflection, too, which fades into the dark blue/black depths and emphasizes the leaf colors.

I tried this shot at very slow shutter speeds, too - one or two seconds - looking for the misty appearance slow speeds bring to such subjects as waterfalls. But here it just clouded the image and didn't give the flow-shaped highlights present in this version.

The Lesson Learned here is "Think Water". Reflections of subjects in water, subjects that glisten with wetness, and subjects distorted by being viewed through water are all fair game.