Sneak peak of a recent shoot #5
Aug, 2016Views
72
Likes
Awards
Top Choice
Peer Award
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken along the promenade of the Marina in Swansea, South Wales. I stood behind the railings and zoomed in on the reflection.Time
I remember this day quite clearly as my college classmate and I had a strict schedule as we were on a photography trip with our class. I took this image around 12:30 p.m. It was a fairly dry day with heavy clouds and still waters although it did start raining shortly after I took this image. The wind picked up right before it rained which created a wonderful rippled effect in the water.Lighting
Believe it or not I actually planned to photograph the boats but when the clouds gradually changed in contrast right before it rained, I couldn't help but fall in love with the way they reflected in the water. I did not have to alter the brightness for this image at all! All I did was toggle a bit with the contrast and saturation along with deepening the image.Equipment
The camera I used was a Nikon D3300. It's my first digital camera and nowhere near top of the range but I'm a strong believer that image quality is not down to the camera but rather how you use it. Sure a £1,000+ camera gives you a head start but without a creative vision and imagination, you are at a loss. As for the lens, it's the 18-55mm that came with the camera. No other equipment was used- I have yet to invest in a tripod!Inspiration
The contrast in the stormy clouds definitely inspired me to take this photo; as soon as I noticed how beautifully they reflected in the rippled water, I was sold. I purposely cropped the image so that the focus would be on the reflection and not the building and surroundings in their physical form.Editing
I did not do any photo processing.In my camera bag
I have yet to invest in a tripod and lenses. I'd like to call myself an amateur photographer (especially after seeing how amazing some of the images are on here) and so I'm still doing my research to see what lenses I will really benefit from. It can be quite overwhelming when faced with investing in equipment especially when you're new to the scene! I'm also looking into polaroid filters for my Nikon D3300 right now as I'm quite intrigued to see how much of a difference they make.Feedback
My advice for someone hoping to capture a similar image would be to focus more on making the content of the reflection interesting rather than the surroundings. Try and tightly crop your image in such a way that the viewer's attention will primarily be on the reflection but is still able to appreciate what surrounds the reflection (in this case, the boats). I would also recommend testing out a black and white effect; I feel as though it has the power to give even the most boring photos some character. Make sure to play around with your contrast, saturation and darkness/deepnessof your image to make it crisp! Make sure not to over-do it, though.
