Artistic Photo Trick: Capturing Reflections in Rippled Water

Yesterday, professional photographer Efrain Padro shared his trick on using your zoom lens for artistic effect. (If you missed that one, you can find it here.
Today, Efrain’s back — this time, with a tip on shooting reflections with an Impressionistic twist.
And, if you thought you needed water to capture a reflection, think again. I’ve included a bonus tip for you below…
REFLECTIONS WITH AN IMPRESSIONISTIC TWIST
By Efrain Padro in Santa Fe, NM
I use this trick to make a truly artistic shot from a reflection. What you’ll need…
*** Your camera
*** An interesting subject
*** Rippled water
Find a nice reflection of an interesting subject. For maximum effect, the water should be rippled, not still.
Then, instead of photographing the subject and its reflection, photograph the reflection only. Of course, you’ll get an upside-down image.
When time comes to process the image, simply flip it, so it looks as though it were captured right-side up.
Here’s how my “Impressionistic” version of the charming town of Bruges, Belgium, worked out:

Now, go find some water, and try it yourself!
[EDITOR’S NOTE: You don’t always need water to capture a reflection. Fellow reader, Dawn-Marie Hanrahan, wrote in with a similar trick using reflections
She stopped her car to capture a dramatic sky with her point-and-shoot camera. She didn’t have her tripod, so she balanced her camera on the top of her car to avoid shake. Much to her surprise, the image reflected off her dusty hood, creating the illusion of a lake in the foreground of her snapshot, rather than the real-life parking lot.
Take a look at her photo, here:

(To illustrate the difference, here’s what the scene looked like without the “lake:”  )
And, Dawn isn’t alone. At a San Francisco workshop some years back, I found myself without my tripod during an evening shoot. Like Dawn, I improvised and used a car hood to capture this landmark shot:

Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.  Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]