Puddles

Another form of reflected light that my photographic eye has been drawn to lately.

January 4, 2025

Tags: Out and About, Film Photography, Photography, Adapted Lenses, Camera Gear

This suspect this may be a photographic cliché, but lately I’ve been working this alley that has lots of places were water puddles up when it rains. For a while now, my eye has been generally drawn to reflections of many kinds, in particular reflections off window glass and reflections off mirrors. Add reflections off small pools of water to that list.

Left: Nikon F with Nikkor-S 50mm f/1.4 lens, Ilford FP4 Plus 125 film, 1/250 sec., f/1.4. Right: Canon EOS R8 with Nikkor-H 85mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 400, 1/160 sec., f/2.8.

Sometimes the puddle is not so much reflecting something of interest as much as it is a part of the composition.

Left and right: Canon EOS R8 with Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens, ISO 100, 1/125 sec., f/3.5.

By using a wider aperture setting and focusing on whatever is being reflected, I’ve found that I can get some interesting effects with the foreground blurred out. It also helps that the weather has been cloudier lately. Especially when I’m shooting film, I love the effect that the soft light has on my subject matter.

← Newer Older →