Taking Shots of Rivers

milster

milster

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Gary
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Hi all,

I'm having real trouble taking shot of rivers that I like. The problem is with shots like this, trees/rocks/moss etc.

River Dart by the milster, on Flickr

I see spots like this that look lovely when I'm stood there looking at them but for some reason I can't seem to convey it into a photograph. I think it might be a composition thing, it's not really just my pictures, I have real trouble in general finding shots like this that I like, which bugs me a bit as I really like the scenes in the flesh as it were.

Any help or advise on what I might try? Two things I think is: 1. Take the shot from in the river/stream (not always possible) 2. Maybe a wider angled lens? Widest I have at the moment is 18mm.

Or maybe it's just me and other people like this sort of picture:thinking:

Thanks for any help'

Gary.
 
There's an interesting article on Luminous Landscapes about photographing waterfalls (link) which I've found it interesting to think about with a variety of subjects, it may help you when composing river scenes.

When I look at your scene, my eye is drawn to potential compositions focussing on the bitch on the far bank. It gives a nice contrast to the vegetation behind and has an interesting piece of bank and river in the foreground.

Think longer as well as wider with landscapes.
 
Alastair said:
When I look at your scene, my eye is drawn to potential compositions focussing on the bitch on the far bank. It gives a nice contrast to the vegetation behind and has an interesting piece of bank and river in the foreground.

Think longer as well as wider with landscapes.
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I am not trying to be rude or funny but I don't understand - what bitch - is it meant to be bit or beach or what ?

I too have the same problem having never managed to take a decent landscape - despite seeing them in real life my shots never seem to capture what I want to get !
 
Looking at that shot you've posted, the exposure is decent and you seem to like the old 'milky water' look using a long exposure etc..

Personally, I feel the shot has been taken from too high, plus there's no foreground interest to hold the image together. Getting down a little lower will change the perspective and put the water rushing towards the lens more. Finding something like a large boulder or something that can work in the foreground is key I feel...

stevewestern said:
I am not trying to be rude or funny but I don't understand - what bitch - is it meant to be bit or beach or what ?
Click to expand...

I put money on him posting from a phone or being on a new mac that autocorrects :LOL:
 
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Oops.. no such excuse.. should be bit or beach - I changed my mind halfway through and didn't check! I marked it with a note on the Flickr page..
 
What am I talking about.. I meant BIRCH..

.. I'm going back to bed.. ..
 
Cheers guys, they'll be things to consider on my next outing. Thanks for the link Alastair and the comments on Flickr, I'll have a look now.
 
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Just for the record Gary.

You are not alone in this struggle, it affects me as well, thanks for the thread.............(y)
 
Thanks Mark, I've just bought a new tripod that'll allow me to get lower so I'll give it a bash.

Just had a quick look at your flickr, loving your work by the way (y)
 
A couple of other things you may want to think about as these are differences between how you see the view and how the camera captures the image.

Firstly the use of lots of depth of field that you will typically use - when you look at the view when you're there your eye will be continually refocussing on different parts so when you look at the trees receding off into the distance as in the top half of your image it's your perception that gives it depth and a feeling of "layers" - if you get what I mean. A camera recording an image with lots of DOF doesn't do that so you just gets lots of green stuff all in focus with nothing to say how near or far it is - so ends up looking in the photo a lot flatter than you remember from the real thing because there's nothing to reallly indicate depth.

The other thing is the light reflecting off the water - again a perception thing as your mind can effectively ignore it even though you're seeing it - but again once you're looking at the photo - blam there it is hitting you in the face!! This is particularly true with the longer shutter speed flowing water pics - the reflections will often appear much more in the photo than you perceived when you were looking at the river for real. A polariser is your friend here.

Just remember to try and look at things and think how the camera would see it - your mind will play tricks on you!!

And BTW - the composition in your pic isn't way out - maybe slightly lower and to the right so the diagonal lead in hits the lower left corner of the frame.
 
Just checked your exif Gary and the time was 10.15, try for some early mornings/ late afternoons, most (not all) of the best landscape shots are taken at these times.
If you see a great landscape image try and remember what you liked about it and try to add some of those elements into your own shots.
 
Yeah cheers Neil, I've been quite happy with the way my landscape stuff has been developing over the last few weeks (only just started on landscapes) It's just these river scenes I'm having real problems with (well, to my mind, I might be having problems with the other stuff according to other people :)). The reason this was taken at 10.15 is because I'd been elsewhere taking photos since 6am. Just thought I'd try a couple there on the way home :D
 
I always struggle trying to convert what I 'see' into something worthwhile. The best tip I had was getting low and including foreground interest. Try to find lines to lead the eye through the shot.

A polariser is very useful - essentially you can rotate the front element and as you do so it cuts the reflected light down from things such as foliage or water. You can look through the viewfinder as you rotate and you will see the 'sweet spot'. In your image it may well have revealed some foreground interest under the water in the bottom left.

All in all though its still not a bad shot.

Gary
 
It may not be the scene you don't like it may be the time if day you don't like?
Try the scene during early or later hours this makes all the difference.
 
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