Hi I'm Doug McKinlay, and you're watching
AdoramaTV. Now for today's video we're
going to look at an area that I love to do..
reflections. They're just fun, it's that
simple but even so reflections can make
some great pictures.
I think we have all seen some of those great reflective
pictures, especially off of water, big
vistas, giant mountains, glass-like lakes.
But even so, smaller more intimate
pictures can be had. Like here in Central
London, there's no shortage of reflective
surfaces for us to make some great
pictures. First though some technical
things we have to think about. First up is
aperture now f11 is my go-to aperture
for any kind of reflective pictures. It
helps to even out a shot, it creates this
relation between the eye and the subject
thus enhancing the photographs. Next up
is focus, a lot of the focus will depend
on the distance between the subject and
the reflection. First try focusing on the
subject and take an image. Next to try
focusing on the reflection and take an
image. This should produce slightly
varied results. Now your preference will
depend on how much attention you want to
draw to the reflection. Finally think of
the angle of light and how that's going
to affect your reflection. In a natural
setting outside, this probably means
changing your point of view. Use what;'s around
you, benches, trees, anything up high!
Anything that's really going to enhance
that reflection, it will only improve the
picture. As I mentioned earlier... big
vistas! I just want to briefly touch on
this as we're in Central London and the
Rocky Mountains are a long ways away!
However if you do find yourself in those
situations, there's a few things you're
going to need to make your pictures work.
First a good tripod, you really need to steady
that camera to get those great shots, also
you're going to need some filters,
A polarizing filter to cut some glare, and
a couple of graduated neutral density
filters, to even out the light.
But we're in central London, what we're
looking for are reflections and reflective
surfaces, this can be anything from
architecture to windows, shops and cars,
to puddles, mountains or even tiles. It's
a bit of a scavenger hunt, but like all
good photography, the more you return to a
place the better your images become.
Reflective photography especially in
urban setting, tends to lean toward the
abstract, and this is something you
should embrace. So don't always look at
those flat clean surfaces but search out
the odd shape ones, experiment with your
aperture and your points of view, it's only
by experimenting that you get a grip on this
kind of photography, and improve your
pictures.
Now I can see the photograph... just
staring me in the face!... but I've got a
lot of disembodied legs walking passed,
so just waiting for them to clear,
hopefully get myself one or two seconds,
if that, to get the picture.
Actually looks very impressionistic..
almost like do I dare say it... a little
bit like a Van Gogh painting! That's
really cool actually more Picasso
actually.
Time of day plays a role here too,
mornings and afternoons are still the
best times to shoot, but like all of good
photography - rules are meant to be broken!
I've often found that shooting in midday
reflections and puddles tend to
stand out better as does architectural
pictures, especially with lots of modern
glass buildings. And rainy days? that's a
bit of a no-brainer, there are reflections
everywhere. So that's our introduction to
reflective photography, thanks for
joining us! I'm Doug McKinlay for
AdoramaTV. Don't forget you can subscribe
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