Playing with puddles

[Marzunia]

What aperture is good for taking shots of reflections in puddles?? Maybe f/8??? And what shall I take the light reading from???

[jrader]

What aperture is good for taking shots of reflections in puddles?? Maybe f/8??? And what shall I take the light reading from???

All apertures are suitable for reflection shots. The aperture merely is the hole that the light goes through to reach the film/sensor. The only effect it has by adjusting the f# is the depth of field.

As for where to take the reading, it really depends on what you are shooting. I shoot puddles in lava rock (which is straight black), which makes finding a suitable exposure somewhat difficult. However, if you are just shooting the reflection itself, my suggestion would be to meter something in the reflection that is as close to neutral gray. Another thought I had was that reflections are not 100%, so you could meter for the same thing is being reflected and then increase the exposure 1/3-2/3 of a stop in order to account for the loss of light (I'm assuming here that you are not using a "perfect mirror" but rather a puddle).

Hope this helps.

John