Make water look wet

[Thad Gerheim]

This might be the best I can do. Looks cold anyway!
stanley lakecopy by Thad Gerheim, on Flickr

[Martin Aislabie]

At the same time, having spent a lot of my life studying the flow of water (okay...just hanging out along water), I have noticed that moving water is moving. Stopping (freezing it, so to speak), must be an affectation, also. "We stop it because we can."

TC's image works -- especially contrasting water with rock.

Below: Merced River. A long exposure, but the movement is only seen by the streaks of floating bubbles. What speaks of wet water more than a reflection? Transparency also.

Lovely shot Vaughn

Martin

[r_a_feldman]

Dang it, now you have me searching through my photos to see if I happen to have such an image. What do think? Maybe. I'll keep looking for a b&w.
hansonwaves(8870)04 copy by Thad Gerheim, on Flickr

I like this one. It’s not the usual mirror-flat water surface so it gives the water some movement without smoothing it out to nothingness.

[PatrickMarq]

How about this one ?

[Corran]

Long, but not too long?

[John Layton]

What a great assignment this would be...to "make a photograph of water that looks wet." Kind of like when Alfred Eisenstaedt was assigned to "make snow look like sugar" (which he did!).

But do I have any existing photos which might qualify? I think I just might...but will need to dig them up and post them for assessment.

[Thad Gerheim]

How about this one ?

I really like your photo, composition and shutter speed make for a dynamic image. But I wonder if it's more the subjective, being wet beach, waves and clouds that give the feeling of wet?

[rdenney]

This one had a 1-second shutter speed at f/45. The water is moving, but still looks more wet than silk to me.


Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite, 1992

But this one I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out how to keep the bubbles distinct but still provide sufficient depth of field around the tilted focal plane. I did want some sense of movement in the falls but without those bubbles in the foreground becoming indistinct. This was a 1/15-second exposure at f/22.

Espada Dam (ca. 1730), San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, 1993

Rick "old stuff" Denney

[Pieter]

I see motion etc. associated with water in most of the images, but few really read "wet" to me.

[Vaughn]

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..