© John Bentham

Shooting in early morning, or late afternoon as in this photograph, are the best times to photograph water. When the light is coming from the side, water becomes a unique subject, reflections become more pronounced, the contrast of features, ripples and plants floating in the water becomes more intense, and the photo takes on a glow. The color temperature (the effective color recorded in a photograph) changes drastically at this time of day. You often get more interesting, vibrant results by not adjusting (correcting) your color balance when shooting sunset photos. Just let the color get soaked up by the water, the photograph will appear bright and spectacular.