Placid Waters: I hope this is the right place for this topic. What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection. Thanks John...

John7199 Loc: Eastern Mass.

I hope this is the right place for this topic.
What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection.
Thanks
John

User ID

John7199 wrote:

I hope this is the right place for this topic.
What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection.
Thanks
John

Changes in temperature produce breezes that ripple the waters surface. This would reommend mid day when, unfortunately, the lighting tends be deathly boring :-(

cmc4214 Loc: S.W. Pennsylvania

John7199 wrote:

I hope this is the right place for this topic.
What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection.
Thanks
John

It depends on the location, usually the best time of day is when the sun is shining on the subject being reflected, but not shining directly on the water.

rv8striker Loc: St. Louis, MO area

John7199 wrote:

I hope this is the right place for this topic.
What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection.
Thanks
John

Generally speaking I’d say early morning and evening, during the so called “golden hour”. Fair weather during periods of high barometric pressure Vs. a recent frontal passage is a safe bet too.

John N Loc: HP14 3QF Stokenchurch, UK

rv8striker wrote:

Generally speaking I’d say early morning and evening, during the so called “golden hour”. Fair weather during periods of high barometric pressure Vs. a recent frontal passage is a safe bet too.

Always had by best results in the early morning.

billt1970 Loc: Gambrills, Maryland

John7199 wrote:

What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection.

You only get a good reflection when the water is still. So the best time is . . . when the water is still!

dsnoke Loc: North Georgia, USA

My experience is that either midday, if you have calm or very light winds, or before sunrise, again with little wind. See seven-oaks.net/dickspics for examples. Midday in the fall when the leaf color is reflected tends to be better than midsummer in my opinion.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Best time of day can vary with time of year and one's local weather. East of the Cascades, spring often brings strong winds by late morning or mid-day.

Time of year is important too, because of where the sun is relative to the subject one wishes to photograph. The further from the equator you live, the more dramatic the differences will be between summer and winter and the more unique opportunities you'll discover.

If the body of water is large, it is possible to find calm areas with good reflections near the shore or in sheltered spots, while other sections have wind. I saw that a lot at Reflection Lakes, Mt Rainier National Park.

A straight-forward question, but the answers are varied and complex.

jaredjacobson

John7199 wrote:

I hope this is the right place for this topic.
What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection.
Thanks
John

Consider other ways of achieving the same effect. A steady tripod, a multiple stop ND filter, and a long exposure will visually smooth out the water’s surface and create a beautiful reflection, and can be done at any time of day.

However, this approach is complicated if you want moving things to show up in the shot, like people or plants moving in the wind. For that you many need to take two exposures: one for the water and reflection, and one for the person/animal/plant. Then composite the two in Photoshop or some similar raster editing program.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If the scenery is well lit, that will be echoed in the reflection, so avoid shooting scenery that's in shadow if at all possible. And as others have pointed out, wind is the enemy of good reflections. A small body of water can settle down quickly whereas large bodies of water will take much longer to settle down. The open sea is almost never calm enough to give good reflections. Inlets can be placid but you have to be lucky to catch them when they're quiet.
.

A sea loch in a rare quiet mood.

(Download)

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

R.G. wrote:

If the scenery is well lit, that will be echoed in the reflection, so avoid shooting scenery that's in shadow if at all possible. And as others have pointed out, wind is the enemy of good reflections. A small body of water can settle down quickly whereas large bodies of water will take much longer to settle down. The open sea is almost never calm enough to give good reflections. Inlets can be placid but you have to be lucky to catch them when they're quiet.
.

A trip-inspiring shot 💙💙🌀💙💙

R.G. Loc: Scotland

joecichjr wrote:

A trip-inspiring shot 💙💙🌀💙💙

Thanks. (I think the mirror-smooth water might have gone by now

).

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

John7199 wrote:

I hope this is the right place for this topic.
What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection.
Thanks
John

Early morning - before the sun can heat the land causing air currents and thusly ripples ....

Bill_de Loc: US

John7199 wrote:

I hope this is the right place for this topic.
What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection.
Thanks
John

This is exactly the right place for this topic!

---

josquin1 Loc: Massachusetts

John7199 wrote:

I hope this is the right place for this topic.
What is the best time of day to photograph a body of water in order to get good reflection.
Thanks
John

I always liked shooting at dawn when the water is flat and glistening.