Have you ever taken a hike to a lake or pond and have seen a reflection of the trees or mountains in the perfectly still water and thought, wow, that would make a great photo? Yes, it will make for an incredible photograph, but there are other reflections that can be just as amazing.
While you are out and about with your camera, look for reflections in puddles, rippling and still water, mirrors, and other reflective surfaces.
Here are a few examples of how you can incorporate reflections into your photography.
This photo was created in a parking lot. As I was walking by, I saw the palm tree reflected and had to stop and compose this photograph using my cell phone camera on my Samsung phone.
While on vacation a few years ago, I noticed this reflection of our cruise ship offshore and with a little help from my kids, I captured this image with an Olympus point and shoot camera.
Back to the days of photographing weddings.... This couple was getting out of their car to go to the reception and when I noticed the reflection in the puddle in the parking lot, I asked them to stop and let me get a photo. They loved the photo and had no idea, at the time, that I was photographing their reflection in a puddle.
I love creating sunburst photos and when I saw the sun reflecting in the water, I knew this was going to be one of favorites! This was created with my Sony A7iii camera and a 28-70mm lens and an aperture setting of f/22. See more on how to create a sunburst photograph here.
One of my favorite type of photoshoots were senior portraits. I photographed this high school senior in my studio using a mirror to frame her image. When photographing using a mirror for reflections, its best to focus on the image in the mirror rather than the mirror itself, and to use a an aperture that will not blur the mirror. For this image, I used an f/8 aperture, off camera flash, and a shutter speed of 1/200. I metered for the background so that the area outside the window was exposed correctly.
You can also use a reflection to create an abstract photograph. This photo is of a boat in a marina. The water was rippling slightly which created the wavy lines.
Using a reflection in a landscape can really enhance the composition of your photograph. This was taken on a cold, foggy day without a lot of wind. the water was somewhat still which allowed the reflection to be fairly sharp. This was created with a Samsung Galaxy cell phone camera and cropped to a square format.
Mirror image on a perfectly still lake. The lack of wind and the blue skies made for a perfect reflection of the trees and the hill on the lake. Camera settings: f/4.5 aperture, 1/15 second shutter speed, ISO 500. It was captured hand held, but if I had a tripod on this hike, I would have used it to avoid any possibility of camera shake due to the show shutter speed.
Look for reflections on other surfaces other than water or mirrors. This image was captured while sitting on my balcony enjoying a glass of wine. I noticed the palm tree reflected in the glass on my table and positioned the wine glass just right to create this photograph.
This photo was created for a commercial photoshoot with Lynda Carter. Yes, that Lynda Carter, who played Wonder Woman!
This was for a domestic violence awareness event in DC in 2009. I was hired to photograph her with these shoes (which turned out to be much too small for her size 11 feet), and jumped at the chance!
The hand-painted shoes were being auctioned off during the event and they needed photographs of the shoes. There was a table in the lobby of the hotel with a reflective surface and I found it to be perfect for the shoe photo! By the way, Lynda is just the sweetest and most down to earth celebrity I've ever met! I just have to throw in this photo of her holding the shoes. It was one of the highlights of my career as a photographer!
I hope that you are inspired to get creative and look for some reflections to photograph next time you take a photograph. I hope you don't feel that you need a fancy camera to capture some fun and amazing photos. Many of my favorite photos were taken with a cell phone camera, a point and shoot camera, and even a Lego camera. Yes, I said Lego camera! Hmm, maybe I should pull that one out of storage and show you what I'm talking about.... stay tuned for that blog post!
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