Taking photos with reflections is one of my favorite things to do. All you need is…….. Reflections. You don’t usually create them, they just happen to be there. You could create some, but, would that be artificial? Let’s take a look at some photos using reflections, and give you some good tips on how to take photos using reflections:
1- First, and most important: Find a reflection.
One of the most beautiful and popular reflection photos is that of the sun setting or moon setting on the horizon. The photo above is one that a lot of photographers have tried, and everyone will still love what you get from this. What I like even more is if the sunset is reflecting in your photo, like this:
With the photo above, notice a few things that make this photo so good: A- the water is still. You can’t get that with the ocean. Do you know a lake that would do this for you? B- A perfect “negative space” photo added to this sunset makes it even better.
2- Another thing you can control with “reflections” pictures is: Adding a subject into the photo, like this:
Notice that the person is actually is very shallow water to accomplish this. If you find a reflective pond, or lake like this, add a person to the photo like this. There is something special about the person being in the picture twice.
3- Get close to the surface of the water. Some of the best photos you will take like this may be hard to do with a big DSLR. You really want to put that expensive camera within 1 inch of water? Well, try holding it still at 1 inch from the water. Some tripods however will let you mount the camera on the mounting pole in the middle, or let you reverse it. But, a cell phone camera may be the best option, or even better get a waterproof / weatherproof camera to do this work. But, look at the results:
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4- Try photos where the water is not still. It still makes for a great photo. The reason I like to take photos is reflective waters that are not still is that it creates some serious action photos:
5- Take photos using “puddles”. This is a bit more tricky, but, when it rains, or you have a bit of reflections of water on the road, or somewhere, try getting a few photos using the puddles. Here are a couple of great examples:
Hope that helps, and of course with this type of photography, one thing that will really help you learn about reflections, is to take a lot of photos. Practice makes for some great photos.
