REFLECTIONS

Weather still very variable, so an opportunity to do a bit of file sorting and cataloguing. I came across an image of Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) taken at Gruissan in the south of France (the French call it Gravelot a collier interrompu - typical!). It shows a nice reflection in the clear, clean, still water. Positioning the junction of legs and water somewhere near the middle of the picture balances the reflection and bird nicely creating a more or less symmetrical arrangement. You do need good light and still water for this type of reflection. The other type of reflection involves light from other objects reflecting colours off the water and occurs typically in harbours and marinas where coloured walls and boats are behind the bird. They can have some quite striking effects, and shouldn't be ignored. The water doesn't need to be flat calm for this effect, with ripples causing some interesting effects.


Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus): Gruissan, France. If only the North Sea was this blue!

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo): Scarborough Harbour. The brown reflection compliments the brown centres of the feathers.

Coot (Fulica atra): Scarborough Harbour. The yellow reflection brightens up the otherwise rather uninteresting bird.

Coot (Fulica atra): Scarborough Harbour. Or you can use the reflection from the blue sky (if there is one!).

All images taken with a Canon EOS 1D Mk111 and 500mm F4 lens.