Shooting Challenge: 12 Stunning Water Shots

It’s not easy illustrating something we see (and drink) every day in an interesting way, but these 11 photos of water prove that it can be done – even without a dedicated camera!

Some photographers in this week’s Shooting Challenge certainly have an eye for thinking outside the box. Which is your favourite?

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Simon Lee

Shot was taken with my Canon 550D and trusty 50mm f/1.8 lens, minor sharpening, vignetting and B&W done in Aperture.

This is the iconic spiral water sculpture in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. Normally it is full of toddlers and primary school aged children racing down its curves like bath water down a plug hole, however it was dusk and the fading light meant the local gulls could drink and bath in peace.

I made me think about how water cold be two things at once; on one hand it is a magical art installation enjoyed by thousands every day, and on the other hand a basic necessity – required by all living things to survive.

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Fletcher Woolard

Camera 5D MKII
Macro tube
Helios 44f2.0 lens
2000 ISO
1/2000 sec
F2.0

High speed trigger – shutter is triggered when water drop passes
through photo gate.
Scene is lit with 3 point lighting setup surrounding a softbox.
Macro tube only received today.

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Marcus Cher

Seeing as it the weather was too bad to go to the beach, I took this photo from my front porch.
It’s the simple pitter patter of the rain drops falling on the tiles. It’s no Doc Edgerton photo but
it does the job.

1/1250 second shutter
1600 ISO
f 3.5
Canon 7D

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Sarah Williams

Apple Iphone 3gs
Focal Length 3.9mm
Iso: 64

edited in Picasa 3

Taken 25 Feb Sydney Hyde Park in the Afternoon

I don’t get to play tourist often enough and I have always loved this fountain of pagan myth, so it was nice to find an excuse to look at it in detail.

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Daniel Butler

Pentax K10D
58mm Helios 44M6 with ext tube.
Manfrotto Tripod

ISO 200
F/2.8

Added some ‘clarity’ in Adobe Camera Raw, otherwise untouched and unedited.

A close up of some grass plants that are potted all over the TAFE in Petersham, with water drops only just hanging on. The colour caught my eye and the camera did the rest.

The low aperture and close focus blur the background and provide an otherworldly touch to the photo.

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Art Ushenin

Camera: Lumix DMC-TS1: ISO 80, f 3/3, 1/500 shutter. Camera set on auto, all the natural light you can get.
Shot at Noarlunga beach, SA…about 2-3m deep snorkeling – I really don’t know what they are but they look like Insect Eating plant – under water version.

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Andrew Turner

The shot was taken with my Pentax K-r with a 80-200mm f/4.5 Pentax-M all manual zoom, I didn’t note the aperture and zoom settings, 1/1600s 200 ISO.

The shot has the Williamstown (Vic) Sailing Club piers in the foreground, where I’m currently learning to sail…

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Mark Banfield

Here is my submission for your shooting challenge.

It was shot with a Fujifilm Xp Finepix point and shoot camera. I just converted it to black and white in Adode Camera Raw.

It was shot at my local community pool during a time when both Mum and Dad could be together with our little man. I have a Canon 5D with all the bells and whistles, but it would not have been able to take this shot. I love the way that no matter what gear you have, a simple shooter can be used to capture the most special of moments.

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Travis Parry

My parents often told me as a child that sometimes you have to make your own fun! Usually this sentence was thrown around after a hard days work followed by the realisation of two hyperactive children on their hands.
Now skip to the future, ten years on and a lengthy 8 hour drive looking for some elusive waves, which i might add weren’t anywhere to be found! Now i was suddenly felt like the weary parent… lucky for me, my kids (mates) were creative enough to find their own fun.
Before the splash, mid suey and looking for a landing amongst the algae.
Camera was just a point and shoot Canon ixy 1000 on high iso.

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Daina Peet

I used a Canon Digital IXUS 11015, it uses 12.1 mega pixels.

For this shot I had the glass under the tap and the tap was on as hard as it could run, I am pleased with this shot, it turned out better than I thought. Water isn’t my best side of photography, my photography is more of the abstract sort of imagery. But I enjoyed this topic!

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Steven Wright

My Photo is called Drunk Melbourne

Photo Details:
Date: ~9:30pm Feb 25
Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: 17-40 f/4L @ 17mm/f4
Exposure: 1.6 seconds
ISO: 1250

I have set myself a 1 print worthy photo a week challenge for the year, which is quite a hard task, and I’m falling a little behind. The attached is a photo of Melbourne with the Yarra River providing reflections.

This picture is the first I have taken that is delibratly blury; not just blury, but moving the camera in circles when taking it to get the cool streaking. I did have my tripod on me, but these kind of shots look a little sterile and cliche, so wanted to try something different.

The name ‘Drunk Melbourne’ is given for pretty obvious reasons; late night, world is spinning, and Melbourne is one of the places this can easy happen.

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Jonathan Ward

My photo for this week was taken with my iPhone in Hipstamatic, using the Lucifer VI lens, Alfred Infrared Film, and RedEye Gel Flash. cropped in Picasa.

I took this one in my backyard. The sun was out, so I went outside and took a couple pictures of the sun shimmering on the pool. This is a closeup of the inlet pipe for the pool after the water gets filtered. I didn’t consciously choose the filters in Hipstamatic, just shook it and hoped for the best. The funky colours and patterns turned out well I think, and the photo definitely looks “moist” even if it is quite a red photo. Shooting water with Hipstamatic is great! It brings out a lot of little bits in the water that one does not see in a normal photo, which is rather exciting I think.


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