Igor Motov

If I had to define three most important factors in outdoor photography, I would probably choose location, time and water. So, why water, this odorless tasteless substance that is covering 70% of the surface of the Earth is so important?

First of all, water is a great subject. Moving water with slow shutter speed creates clean long translucent gauze that stretches on waterfalls and softly hugs stones of mountain rivers. The same water on the fast shutter speeds morphs into amazing fleeting sculptures that cannot be seen with a naked eye, and only be captured on a camera. Still water works as a giant mirror that reflects skies, trees and everything around, but even slight wind can change this picture into intricate watercolor. A stronger wind can create millions of small ever-changing flashlights of ripples reflecting sun in all possible directions.

Generally, photographers like sun, but not too much of it. Fair sky without a single cloud often looks like a glaring hole on landscape pictures. For obvious reasons photographers prefer worm summer evenings with rich fluffy clouds reflecting gorgeous red, pink and purple light of the setting sun. Or clearing storm just before sunset when dark blue retreating clouds open fresh and clean landscape. In such weather water can cause extraordinary transformations not only in skies but on the ground as well. Water can brings back long gone colors. An old gray asphalt road can seemingly forget about years of abuse and gets back its fresh black color that it had on its first day. Water also can make invisible things visible, by making wonderful sparkling beads out of ordinary spider web, for example.

Water can be indeed the biggest photographer helper. In landscape photographs, when perspective can be hard to find and relative scale of objects can be misleading, a little bit of haze brings picture to live. Fog adds mystery and rainbow - color.

The effect of water on photographs can be amazing, and we can probably talk about water, snow and patterns of frost on windows for hours, but I just want to add one more case when water can have a profound effect on the results of your photo session. Only a few things would have stronger effect on your photos then dropping your camera in large body of water. That's when water really shines in producing wide array of strong emotions in any photographer.

The end.