Using a polarizer on Silver Lake, BC.

Photographing a reflection in a lake can be trickier than you may think. If I want a good shot there are many things that will improve the chance of walking away with an appealing image. Time of day has a large impact on the scene because of the angle of the sun, the presence of clouds, and wind speed. Shooting in the early to mid-morning will improve the chances of success because these factors tend to be at their best values.

When the sun is high shadows are strong and this seriously affects contrast. This becomes an issue when using media incapable of handling the higher dynamic ranges associated with such lighting. Jpegs may work, but raw is a much better plan, especially using a DSLR or other high-quality recording device. I have shot in raw exposure mode with compact digital cameras (non-CSC) and found the quality lacking. It is better to shoot an hour or two after sunrise if possible.

Mornings also tend to be better for more open skies. As the sun heats the ground and water surface, water evaporates and condenses higher up in the atmosphere as cloud cover. There tends to be less cloud in the morning on partly cloudy days. I like how the cloud in the photo breaks up the skyline and reflection. The fact it frames the mountain's peak is a bonus. Very high mountains will cause air currents to rise higher than they normally would, adding extra cooling. It is not unusual for these taller peaks to produce their own cloud systems.

A polarizer is a filter that removes one plane of polarized light. Normally light vibrates equally in all planes; in these situations, a polarizer reduces light but has no other effect. Light reflecting off surfaces and being reflected from open blue sky is polarized and can be affected by using a polarizer. If your back is perfectly perpendicular to the sun you will find a polarizer produces little change on the scene straight ahead of you. However, rotating about 30 to 60 degrees to the left or right will produce images with significant polarized effects. One of the things to do when shooting with a polarizer filter is to find the best angle to shoot from to take advantage of those changes. Rotating the external ring allows you to alter the amount of polarization. Sometimes it is a matter of hunting for it; time is usually a factor. Rotating the polarizer will alter the view through the lens and you can adjust your shot accordingly.

This is a very important tip. Digital sensors are much better at extracting pixel information in situations that are underexposed rather than overexposed. If you bracket three shots, one +2, one 0, and one -2 and play with them in post you will find that the 0 and -2 exposures will be much better than the +2 photo. If I am uncertain as to exactly what my exposure should be, I will always underexpose the shot rather than risking an overexposure. In the above photo, the +2 picture would lose all detail in the cloud (blown out highlights) whereas it would be retained in the 0 and -2 variations. It is likely that an exposure of -2/3 (-0.7) would be ideal for retaining all details throughout the entire image.

Lastly, consider applying a graduated filter either in post or using a gray graduated filter when shooting. I usually find the reflection to be far darker than I like and enhance it a bit by playing with my graduated filter settings in Photoshop raw. Some may consider that cheating, but I consider it good photography. You can do the same with film in a darkroom by dodging and burning the image.

Thanks for reading.     Ericspix     Eric Svendsen