I don’t know how often this happens to other photographers, but every once in a while, as I’m sorting photos, I spot something that I didn’t see when I was taking them. Now, I don’t think I can really be blamed for this one, since this is a tight crop of only a small portion of the frame, which would have appeared much smaller than this in the viewfinder. But you have to admit it’s an interesting effect.
I’m biased, since I know what the subject is, so have a go and see if you can figure it out before proceeding below – I’m pretty sure there are enough details to eventually figure it out. Maybe very quickly – who knows?
So, at the botanical garden, an enterprising frog had deposited a collection of eggs, which were trapped between a partially submerged lily pad and the surface, actually protruding from the water a little bit. The water surface, curved across the tops of the eggs, was reflecting the surroundings, which mostly included the various arching stems of the water plants, in a distorted funhouse-mirror way. The deeply hazy skies produced more reflections from the water than bright sunlight would have, a common trait that can seriously alter how the water appears in photographs (if you’re after aquatic subjects, go for the brilliantly sunny days,) while thew dark circular background of the eggs highlighted specific portions of the reflections. The shapes that aren’t lines or curves are me, looming overhead – I’m sure you recognized my dashing profile.