Make water look wet

[Pieter]

Interesting challenge to represent a reflective material with transmitted light (computer screen).

Perhaps a better goal is to have an image of water that feels wet -- not look wet.

An old image, one of my early 4x5s...first time taking a 4x5 backpacking for sure. About 1980. A girlfriend who did not enjoy having her photo taken...along Canyon Creek in the Trinity Alps of northern CA..

She doesn't seem to be getting wet.

[Vaughn]

She is only 55% to 60% water.

[rdenney]

I was once putting together an announcement flyer for an orchestra concert, and it needed a (cliche) image of a conductor's baton laying on a score. I was in an emergency-level hurry for reasons I don't recall and this was many years before Photoshop, Corel Draw, and good large-format printers. I had to make it work with a copy machine in about 20 minutes. So, I drew a conductor's baton by hand, and the question was how to get the handle to look like black piano gloss. I colored it solid black with a sharpie, and then used correction fluid (remember that stuff?) to place a few specular highlights that were absolute white and sharp-edged to make it look glossy. The result was three-dimensional and glossy. I cut it out with scissors, laid it across a score that was laid down over the copy machine platen, and made a copy of it. Done.

The point is: wetness is extreme glossiness, and it requires very sharp reflections specular highlights in scale with the shape and texture that is "wet". That means to me that the specular highlights have to be noticeably whiter than unwet white surfaces that might be in the picture. Even if a print conveys that, a computer screen might not, especially if it's set incorrectly.

Rick "not sure that's always what I want in a large-format photo, however" Denney

[Dugan]

I think Lucien Clergue did an admirable job of making water look wet.

[andreios]

Also some (many) of the photographs by Thomas Joshua Cooper… only the other day I was going through his books, great body of work. All of it about water.

[Vaughn]

The first example was made in an attempt to get the water looking unwet -- I remember wanting the water to echo the rocks on the sides, knowing that I'd probably never getting it to look like water, wet or not, anyway. Far too fast and milky (suspended ground rock), coming straight from under the glacier in 1987 (4x5). I got something slightly different, but I like it.

Second is an 11x14 carbon print of a creek. What is missing on your screen is the raised relief of the image, which makes the moving water portion of the print to have a smoother surface, while the upper area's surface is heavily textured (and mixed on the bottom). A fun way to give water that wet look.

[paulbarden]

What about this?

[Pieter]

Wet? (warning: not LF)

[djdister]

My attempt at wet water...


Colorado Sand Dunes, 1986

[Jim Jones]

When a friend and I arrived at Two Medicine lake in Glacier National Park, the lake was almost a perfect mirror except for the wake of a boat in the distance. The friend was annoyed by the wake: I said "Just wait a while." As the first ripple arrived, the 35mm camera was just inches above the water. A mountain reflected in waves is common enough. A mirror-like reflection is better. I still treasure this shot.