Reflections

Whilst away last weekend, I spent some time on the beach looking at various reflections off the water. Using a combination of wide angle and zoom lenses I captured the images below with varying levels of success.

Thinking of the pictures that I have seen by Jonathan Chritchley, I wanted to try to get some kind of reflective quality into the images, with the minimum amount of detail in the picture. The reflections off the covering of water on the sand gave me that mirror like quality.

Planning
I looked for a wide expanse of beach that would enable me to use my wide angle lens. I took several images with this lens. However, the sky was a very dull grey (until the sun came out!), so I took a number of images in portrait with this lens and then I opted to take various images with my zoom lens, which gave me greater flexibility to shoot near, or far, without having to keep swapping lenses on the beach.

ISO 100: f22:  1/60

Lens: 10-20mm

I like the simplicity of this image. The arc of the clouds is reflected from the sand and draws the eye from left to right in a natural way. There is very little detail, which is intentional, save for the lone windsurfer in the water.

ISO100: f32: 1/25

Lens 55-200mm

Unlike the previous picture this has more detail in it, but the interest here is in the reflection of the runner as he jogs down the beach. Yet again, there is minimal interference in the background, which allows you to concentrate on the runner as he disappears into the distance.

ISO 100: f32: 1/160

Lens 55-200mm

With this image I was trying to see just how much reflected image I could get. I zoomed in closer to fill the viewer with the surfer and got lower in my pose, to try to increase the length of the reflection on the sand. Centering the subject, I tried to make the most of keeping the surfer in the top third that hopefully got me the reflection in the bottom third of the image. The reflection is kind of not exactly where I would have hoped and the reflection is a bit broken, but it was an experiment.

ISO 100: f9: 1/15

Lens 15-55mm

Later in the day I went to take some pictures in a completely different setting. In actual fact my original aim was to take some 'big skies' and reflective images of the sun going down over the sea. As it happened the peninsular obscured what I originally wanted to achieve. However, making the most of the situation, I noticed a lagoon behind me and directly opposite was this boat house. 

The boathouse itself was interesting but, with the stillness of the lagoon and the lowering sun giving a yellowish hue to the picture, I was able to take the above, which is almost a mirror reflection of the boat house and tree.