In the current issue (April 2016) of Digital SLR Photography there’s a lovely article about using puddles. Puddleography has it’s called “gives you an alternative view of your surroundings”. A lot of my photography uses sea water to reflect the skies so I quite like the idea of using puddles elsewhere.
At the weekend we were up close to the Brecon Beacons – don’t ask me where because to be honest I don’t know. We were near Dan Yr Ogof caves and then we were up a road somewhere in the midst of a very light snowstorm. The cloud cover was fabulous with one side showing blue skies and fluffy cotton balls and the other dark with signs of rain coming down. It was also freezing cold!
I took a few shots but just as I was about to leave I noticed a puddle and remembered the Puddleography article. OK I wasn’t in a town – like the article referred to – but the puddle, which was no more than a few feet across was reflecting the clouds and the snow covered hills. It seemed like a good opportunity and the result is the image above.
I’m reasonably pleased with the image although I think the foreground should have been sharper. When I reviewed it in camera it looked fine otherwise I’d have retaken the shot there and then. Why it ended up soft I’m not sure – possibly I was in too much of a rush to get back into the warm or just a misplaced focal point.
For me, the scene itself looks more interesting with the reflection and I really like the effect. The snow dusted hills standout when sandwiched between the clouds in the sky and in the puddle.
Puddles and how you can use them either creatively or to enhance a landscape are definitely something that’s worth looking out for!
