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How to: Photograph Lakes

Tips & Images © Ken Hubbard

With more than 102,000 lakes of all sizes in the United States alone, they are one of the most popular subjects for landscape photographers. Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall each season brings unique opportunities to take amazing images of these bodies of water. Going back to the basics and paying attention to composition, look for the good light and bringing the right equipment like a tripod, filter and a wide to normal focal length lens is the first step to getting good images. Here are 3 more tips to making them even better.

Tip #1) When your natural foregrounds are just not that interesting, do not be afraid to add a human element to your images. It can be anything from boats, buildings or simply a person to add more dimension and interest to your image.


© Ken Hubbard

Tip #2) Look for good reflections: seasons such as fall when the colors are vibrant will make for much more dynamic images. Also get up early and capture reflections in the morning, the water tends to be the most placid and smooth in the am, as the day goes on the ripples become more distinct.


© Ken Hubbard

Tip #3) When the lake is just too wide, create a panorama: Turn your camera to the vertical position and use a little more normal focal length from 35 – 70mm or greater (depends on subject matter). Then, from left to right capture images of the lake overlapping each section of the lake by about 25%. Once you have your images captured then pull them into your favorite software that creates panoramas and watch the magic happen.


© Ken Hubbard




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