My $.02--All the above, and I tend to "lean" on the elevator just a tad on takeoff to keep the nose up just enough that the float tips stay out of the water and it gets on plane a bit quicker (on 'step'). I found water takeoffs and landings a lot easier than I had thought they would be. For landings, I took a lesson from the Mallards that frequent the shoreline near where we fly. If you ever see any, (ducks in general) watch the 'nose high' attitude they establish on their approach to bleed off airspeed and keep it in mind that you want your plane to do similar to keep from burying a float tip when you touch down, and what J Casey said about full stall landing is important, or you'll have enough airspeed to bounce and fly again.

Watching those ducks was cool; I just can't seem to get my Cub's wings to flap when I need them to