Reflections bounce their magic in our photographs in many different ways. A way I like to play with them when working water birds are ripples of blue water. The ripples are created by the critter in the water but they only show up by using reflections to bring them out. It starts by picking the right background. Dark is best so in this case, I moved laterally with the D4s / 800mm to the right so the Black Mountains were the reflection in the water. Where I was standing I only saw blue water and some scattering of white clouds reflected in the water. You need the dark reflection because the ripples are going to be lighter tones. You need apposing tones to make it work.
While this will work with overcast skies, who wants to see gray water. Na, we want our water to be blue so we need blue skies. That’s because the ripples are reflecting the blue skies, it’s an old principle in photography … angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. The flat surface of the water is reflecting the mountains but the ripples which are valleys and peaks radiating out from the critter reflect the blue sky. Using a telephoto to isolate the subject against the background, you can use reflections is a whole new way to bring a little romance to your photos.