Reflection Photography Ideas

Alexander Lozitsky CEO and co-Founder RetouchMe, Ukraine

• Looking for Reflections around the City and Landscapes
• Water Reflection Photography Ideas
• Landscape Mirror Reflection Photo Ideas
• Mirror Reflection Photography Ideas
• DIY Reflections
• Reflection Photography Ideas at Home

Reflections have always been a huge source of creative inspiration for photographers and they give us all kinds of ways to get creative and spice up our compositions. Besides that, they are just a great way to train your creative instincts and your ability to see different possibilities even when the surroundings are a little bit dull. In this guide, we explore different surfaces that have a mirror effect and showcase reflection photography tips.

Reflections pop up while doing all kinds of different shots, from landscapes and cityscapes to street photography and portraits, you name it. The sky is the limit and you can really work reflections into whatever kind of photography you feel like doing. Here we are going to explore how to apply reflection photography tech to both urban and landscapes.

Looking for Reflections around the City and Landscapes

Thinking about the reflections photography, you would like to be up at some gorgeous Mountain Lake shooting landscapes with beautiful calm reflections in the foreground. But when you are in an urban environment, you are going to have to work for it a little bit harder and that is exactly the point of this exercise – to challenge yourself to see the possibilities in a place where it is maybe not so obvious. We have cars, buildings, and water, which are plenty to work with providing more reflection ideas for photography.

Water Reflection Photography Ideas

Water reflections do two things, they add to a story and line things up. By lining up we mean that it provides some sort of symmetry if you angle your camera just right into it, in this way, the reflection extends the image being a continuation of the origin. If you are in the urban environment, look for fountains that produce water glare on some interesting background of monuments, buildings, or people walking around.

Another way to use water reflections is to unhinge the story. Let’s say you have people walking around some water glare be it the same fountain reservoir or some after-the-rain pool. You can angle your camera so that it captures only the feet of the people walking around while the water reflection shows the rest. This background into foreground interplay does the trick making the image interesting to observe for such an idea.

Landscape Mirror Reflection Photo Ideas

If you are on the outskirts of the cityscapes you can find more natural water sources for mirror images mixing them up with the beauty of landscape backgrounds. In this regard, any lake or a river flowing under the mountain is a good way to depict that mountain extending its grace further into reflection of the lake.

If you want to get beyond classic reflections, bring some actual mirrors with you and make it look like you are dissolving in nature by yourself! Hold the mirror in your hands while standing in the water. Make sure that there is enough water on the other side to fill up the shot to get a result as shown below.

This turns out pretty obvious but still a nice illusion!

You can also put a mirror on the ground and here are a couple of creative ways to use its reflection. In the shot depicted below, there is nothing special, but you can go further with more creative angles to make it look not like a mirror glass but like water on the ground that reflects everything around it naturally!

Mirror Reflection Photography Ideas

Returning to the urban districts, we now look for mirror reflections instead of water. As such we have a whole world of glass, windows, cars reflections, and so on.

One good idea is to depict the sky reflecting into some window showcasing that nature is still here and the buildings are not just a presence of human industry excluded. In this regard, get to the building window as close as possible and angle your camera upwards to get the best of the sky reflected in the window surface. That way, you will show both the building height and how it actually scrapes the sky reflected in the window.

Another cool trick for the building’s window reflections is when you are in the middle of two long buildings with lots of big windows, you see another building going across their line, you may extend this background building image reflected in windows which makes it look like the background building line goes further in the window as it shown in the photo below.

When you use windows as mirrors, remember, that the closer you get to the window the more chances you have to get a perfect and symmetrical reflection off of it. Also, the wider the angle the more reflective the surface becomes, which is important, because if you will do it under a 90-degree angle, the reflection becomes transparent and you will capture what is going on the other side of the window. In this regard, windows with darker tints allow for better reflection capabilities.

However, you can use window transparency and the 90-degree angle to your advantage. If you see something interesting inside the window you still get a reflection of that window of an interesting background plane. You can play with your aperture to focus on both things and get an interesting interplay between the subject sitting behind the window and its reflection of a building or surroundings. If you struggle to get good focus, a polarizing filter may help to get better control over reflection and solve the depth of field issue.

Cars produce reflections in the same way as windows and mirrors, however, sometimes you may find some interesting distortion as cars are not of flat surfaces. They bend reflections into interesting abstractions that you need to be aware of to not miss.

DIY Reflections

If you struggle to find cool reflections, you can always bring some mirror with you. For instance, a tablet produces mirror reflections just as great. Here you can come up with interesting ideas, as such, place your reflective tablet or some piece of black but reflective sheet on the ground in a place that has natural symmetry. Wait for the people to fill up the scene bringing some life into the shot and get images as shown below.

Confused? Pay attention to where the person touches the ground with their feet - the reflection starts right underneath at the horizon of your tablet. The left and right are not reflected but the architecture here does the trick adding to reflection with its symmetry.

Besides, you can also make some DIY reflections with a bottle of water. Just pour some water on the ground until it forms a nice water reflection and use that instead of your tablet or a sheet of reflective surface. In this regard, it is good to have a wide-angle lens or even better a GoPro or Insta360. The benefit here lies in the camera’s compact factor which allows you to position it closer to the reflective surface. In the case of water, you can position your camera right in front of the poured water with some cityscape and its skyscrapers in the background showing and reflecting in the water making it look like an actual river flowing across while in reality there is no river. With the GoPro or Insta360, you no longer need to lie down on the ground yourself as you can see the result on your phone’s screen if you have connected the camera device with the phone by Bluetooth interface.

Reflection Photography Ideas at Home

Reflections at home usually are of the same nature as anywhere else. Here we have the same sources such as water, windows, actual mirrors, floor surface, and so on.

Here you are going to be as creative as around the city or landscapes looking for interesting shapes, symmetry, and interplay in combination. Here are some reflection photo ideas at home.

Having a pool in your area is not only good for relaxing but also a water source to reflect your house in it.

When it comes to interior usage, a glossy floor can showcase your furniture's symmetry as well.

Use everything that reflects and look for better angles to showcase the reflection and the beauty of your household.

Let the surroundings become a part of your house and use your panoramic windows to their full potential!

Remember the transparency tip? Here is what you can with it do at your home while chilling in front of the window. Make sure to have an operator taking such pictures of you.

And finally, actual mirrors may do some magic as well, simple but interesting still!

You can also use mirrors to get nice illusions with infinite reflections. For this case, you need two mirrors against each other and something between them. In this way, you create a mirror tunnel, an old trick but still good to have in your arsenal of ideas.

In this regard it is good if you have mirrors on two walls opposing each other, this establishes more room for creativity.

If you are good at editing, stay in front of the mirror with a pen acting like you are drawing something. With a bit of color grading and fine-tuning details embossing the reflection, it will look like you are drawing yourself. Some pro color correction may be required, if that’s the case use our RetouchMe services to help with creating such an effect.

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