Reflections on Water

This was an email in response to Skip who was painting a scene of Mirror Lake in Yosemite, but when she visited the lake was dry and she wanted to create the effect of reflections on water—-

“Interesting questions and interesting project, adding water to a dry lake.

I agree that reflections are squatter than that which is reflected. Mirror images appear when you are looking across water at a low angle, like standing at the waters edge. If you are up high on an overlook, you will get reflections of a distant shore but not of a shore nearby because the angle is too steep. When the angle is steep the light will refract into the water so you see below the surface, instead of reflecting.

High trees on the shore can block a reflection. If there is not a direct line of sight to where the reflection would occur the image would be blocked. Moving water, either waves or wind, can also obscure a reflection. I took a look at my “Color and Light” book and he mentioned something else. Vertical height is preserved in a reflection when horizontals are distorted by waves or wind. Motion in water contorts reflections horizontally. I guess that’s why you can paint effective reflections by dragging your brush horizontally through the image. He also said that edges with strong contrasts will break up in a loose painterly manner, but those with less contrast will either blend or be lost all together.

Another thing he mentioned was about the value of darks reflected on water. The muddier the water, the lighter the reflected darks will appear. Reflected darks are at their darkest when no direct light is touching the water, like at dusk or when trees are casting shadows over the water. This also applies to below surface dark areas. Where the water is transparent, the dark to light contrast will be stronger where surface shadows are cast than where light hits the water. The surface light will lighten the underwater darks.”

P.S. Skip produced an impressive painting that she brought to critique. Skip, maybe you can post a picture?