Ten reflective photography skills

Photography is the visual art of light and shadow. Reflective photography is the most perfect embodiment of this view. Using reflection to shoot can make the picture with plain composition and simple content more connotative, abstract or artistic. As long as we carefully explore the surrounding scenery, we will find a scene suitable for shooting reflection works. I'll show you ten reflective skills.

1. Find an interface where you can shoot reflections.

The first step of reflection photography: find the interface where you can shoot reflection. Once you train your eyesight to be good at finding reflections, you will find that there are many opportunities to shoot reflections around us, which is really unusual. The water surface can often take a good reflection effect, and almost all types of water surface can be used for reflection photography.

In addition to the water surface, hand-held items such as glass surface, visible car body, wet asphalt pavement, ice surface or sunglasses can all be excellent reflection photography interfaces. Such an interface can be seen everywhere. As long as you look for it with your heart, there will always be different gains.

2. Find a topic

After finding the interface where you can shoot reflections, the next step is to find a topic. Of course, you can use the subject's reflection to present the subject in the picture, which makes it easier for the viewer to focus on the reflection. If the subject is removed from the picture, leaving only the reflection of the subject, the viewer will not easily see that it is a reflection, and may mistake the reflection for the real subject.

The photo above is a silhouette of the subject and the reflection. In reflection photography, this technique is really impressive, which often brings strong visual impact to the viewer. Of course, animals, buildings or other objects can also be taken as shooting objects, as long as they can highlight the picture effect and add interest to the whole picture, they can all be taken as shooting objects of reflection photography.

3. The combination of reality and surplus

When creating reflection photography, just shooting reflection can create a fascinating picture effect, but if some real scenes and elements can be integrated into the simple reflection picture, the combination of reality and reality can often make the work more brilliant.

The photo above is a reflection on a black car window. If you hadn't told me in advance, would you have noticed that this is a reflective work? The wonder of reflection photography is that the reflection itself is not interesting, but if the virtual scene and the real scene can be skillfully integrated in the photo, the whole work will stand out immediately and become different.

Finally, the reflection in the picture doesn't need to be shot too big. As shown in the above picture, a smaller reflection can also bring the finishing touch to the picture composition.

Step 4 Eliminate screen interference

The role of minimalist photography is to turn the few into the many, simplify the complex, and make the shooting content simple and rich in connotation. When shooting minimalist reflection works, it is advisable to keep only the most important picture elements, that is, the subject and reflection, and remove the rest of the interference elements in the picture.

The works shot in this way are pure, giving people an ethereal and dreamy feeling. It is often easier to shoot near the seaside or a large area of water. Try it next time you go to the seaside for a holiday.

Photography is the visual art of light and shadow. Reflective photography is the most perfect embodiment of this view. Using reflection to shoot can make the picture with plain composition and simple content more connotative, abstract or artistic. As long as we carefully explore the surrounding scenery, we will find a scene suitable for shooting reflection works. Next, I will introduce ten kinds of iphone reflective photography skills to you, hoping to bring you some creative inspiration.

5. Shoot near the reflecting surface.

Besides, you can shoot very close to the reflecting surface, which can also make your photos stand out. At this time, mobile phone shooting has certain advantages, and SLR cameras are not so easy to operate. In fact, most of the photos listed in this article were taken less than a foot from the water.

In the above photo, the author only takes the sky as the background, focusing on the subject and its reflection, reducing the interference of unnecessary elements on the picture, and at the same time, the reflection extends to the horizon, making the whole picture appear symmetrical. If there are small waves on the water surface at this time, the reflection will be irregularly distorted, thus increasing the interesting effect of the whole picture.

When shooting near the water, we must pay attention to the choice of focus position. Auto-focus function in mobile phone usually takes the center of the picture as the initial shooting focus by default, which may not make you achieve the ideal shooting effect. With the help of special mobile phone photo app such as Camera+, you can move the focus out of the reflection and get a more stable shooting effect.

6, with the help of waves, irregular reflection.

When shooting reflection works, the water reflection doesn't have to be as perfect as the mirror reflection. When layers of tiny waves make the reflection irregular and distorted, it often brings a lot of interest to the picture. In the picture above, the distorted reflection seems to be more attractive than the calm reflection.

The photo above was taken in a small puddle on the beach. When shooting, the water was calm and there were no waves. Before shooting, the author touches the water surface with his hand to create a ripple effect, so there is a reflection of the ripple effect in the middle of the photo you see. If it is inconvenient to draw water by hand, you can also draw water with your feet or throw stones into the water to create ripples.

7. Choose an imperfect surface

Although a perfect reflection like a mirror is enough to add luster to the picture, those distorted and imperfect reflections can often make the picture more vivid and interesting. In addition to making ripples, you can also shoot on uneven reflective surfaces, thus making your photos different and more colorful.

In the above photo, the photographer integrated the beach texture effect into the foreground picture, and the viewer can quickly understand the background of the shooting environment, thus making a deeper impression on this photo. Beach texture also opens up a new dimension for photos, making their foreground as eye-catching as the background.

Symmetry is the most commonly used and effective shooting technique in reflection photography. Most reflection photos will contain symmetrical pictures. You just need to strengthen the use of this technology to create dramatic visual effects.

If you carefully observe the photos selected in this paper, you will notice that the reflection part and the real part are clearly divided into two parts from the middle, and the internal symmetry effect of the reflection photo is further strengthened.

9, long exposure shooting reflection

If the water surface is flowing and the reflection does not move obviously, it can be used to shoot long-exposure reflection works. You can adjust to motion blur mode with the help of a tripod or a mobile app called slow shutter Cam, and debug other settings at the same time, so that you can easily shoot satisfactory long-exposure reflective works.

10, take more photos.

In the process of shooting reflection works, there are always many uncontrollable factors, such as how to control the posture, position and arrangement of the subject in the photo and how to control the ripple effect on the water surface. Although many factors are beyond people's control, we can basically control the whole scene, take as many photos as possible, and then select the most satisfactory works, and an unexpected picture may be born.

Extended reading: photography skill recommendation

Pressing the shutter is the beginning and the end. The beginning is always simple, but the ending is quite different. How are those charming and lasting portraits taken? Do they have the same secret of success? In fact, it is not as difficult as you think to get a person like photography. On the contrary, not everyone can take a vivid, interesting or exciting photo. It doesn't matter if photography experience is blank. It is no longer an extravagant hope to pursue simple operation and quick use.

Clear theme ideas make your photos have a clear and distinct theme, is it a person, a still life or a thing? To have content, plot and story, the photographer must first have a clear idea, and then express his thoughts, instead of being ambiguous and vague.

A good work must draw attention to the theme, and you need the audience to pay attention to your theme immediately, because this theme is the core of your expression. The flowers in the hands of the models in this work have played a very good role in embellishment, which just fits the protagonist's yearning for beauty.

Make your picture more concise. All elements that can't set off your subject or even distract your attention should be compressed or excluded. Keep your visual center only on the innocent and lovely expression of your child.

A simple method to prevent portrait deformation. We should keep a distance from the position of the subject when shooting, and try not to use a wide-angle lens unless you want to express an exaggerated effect. In general, a lens with a focal length of 80-90mm is more suitable for outdoor portrait shooting.

Pay attention to the flexible use of the overall posture to make the hand movements of the subject, such as touching the head, teasing the hair, caressing the face, taking off the cheeks, pressing the corners of the mouth, touching the neck, pulling the skirt, teasing the arms, akimbo, resting the thighs, and teasing the feet. In short, hand movements can be explored freely all over the body, and the core is to keep natural and help express emotions. In addition, you can also hold props to make the image more vivid.

Make your theme more natural. "When I take pictures of someone, I always want to avoid the way they are photographed." Famous photographer john long Gard said. Obviously, it is very important for the character to relax during filming. When a character is relaxed, she will show her feelings more naturally. People in life are usually embarrassed and unnatural when facing the camera, and they need communication to make her forget to shoot. Let the subject stand, bend, lean, sit or lie down according to the scene. Anyway, the more comfortable, the more natural.

How to get a shallow depth of field to highlight the characters and blur the main background is to use a large aperture and a long focal length as much as possible, and if possible, let the characters stand as far away from the background as possible.

When shooting a single portrait with diagonal composition, the photographer should keep a certain distance from the subject to avoid the deformation of the character. Diagonal method is usually the safest in composition. Leave some space and gaps to make the picture deeper.

Use busts or headshots reasonably. If it is really difficult for the subject to pose, dress or figure is not good, please try to take busts or headshots. At this time, the eyes and expressions of the subject are the only things you need to grasp.