Hey all!

This week for our #EsterCobe52 our focus was water! With warm days predicted for the week with no rain, the topic of water was a natural choice for this mama! Want to join in on the fun? See our past #EsterCobe52 posts with tips and tricks on week 1 // Black & White, and week 2 // Fathers.

Our third #estercobe52 is “Water”. Some different ideas could be bathtime, hose play, sprinkler, baby pool, pool, lake or river! Hey, it could be doing dishes! Feel free to post as many as you like on social media and follow the hashtag #EsterCobe52 and encourage each other ❤️ Lets document our days!!!

Pool time // #Estercobe52

When documenting your kids at the pool make sure to get shots of them from above! If you have a waterproof camera this is a great time to pull that out and capture your little fish in action. I will share my underwater later, however, I am all about above for most pool photos! I like to shoot in the shade while outdoors or in the early morning or early evening when the sun isn’t so harsh. This image was achieved at 400 shutter speed and 2.8 aperture with 100 iso.

Dishes // #EsterCobe52

I knew what I wanted with these images. I wanted to see his precious hands in the water with soap. First, I filled the sink with water and got my youngest excited to help, fortunately, he was geeked to play in the water. Secondly, I slowed my shutter speed down to 100 and kept my aperture at 2.2 when getting these shots. The result helps to capture the movement in the water!

Hose play // #EsterCobe52

Another great thing to document this summer is hose play! My sons just love to water my flowers, make muddy puddles and spray water all over. We set out in early morning (before 9) to water the flowers. It was overcast and I struggled with my settings because I like things a certain way. Due to the bright skies I had to shoot at 3.5 for my aperture and I typically like to stay around 2.8, but it didn’t matter too much due to the distance between the hose and the flowers below. I had ISO at 100 and was shooting at 80 for my shutter speed. Again, the slow shutter speed captures the flowing water in a neat way. Play with the settings on your camera to see which you like best, fast or slow shutter!

Shadows in the water, drops and reflections

Still water is an amazing reflector. I just love to capture reflections, and the first image in the blog post is just that! It is me out with my boys documenting me. Since I rarely get to be in the photo, I make due with reflections and selfies! lol When water is still you can use it to create different images like reflections and this shadow image above. This one was taken with my 5d Mark iv with iso 100, f/2.2 and 1/1600s. I used my 24mm lens. Some photographers use a neutral-density filter to help block some of the light from reaching the sensor – I have one and SHOULD have been using it for my hose images… it would have made it less frustrating for me… but it worked!

Below is a portrait I set up for my husband to take of my boys and I. It was taken at iso 200, f/3.2, at 1/500s. This is my favorite type of water image. It is reflection and sunset combined <3

Feel free to ask questions! Share your “Water” image on social media with the #EsterCobe52 and follow along! <3

• 
  EsterCobe52 Week 45 // Self Portrait
• 
  EsterCobe52 Week 44 // Spring
• 
  EsterCobe52 Week 43 // Equinox
• 
  EsterCobe52 Week 42 // Daylight
• 
  EsterCobe52 Week 41 // Outdoors
• 
  EsterCobe52 Week 40 // Works of Art