Apr 11, 20214 min read

Outdoor Reflections with Melissa Richard

Hello fellow storytellers! My name is Melissa Richard, and I am a wife and mother of two. I am a natural light hobbyist photographer from Fort McMurray, Alberta. I also teach grade one full time. Photography is a true passion of mine. I am inspired by documentary, lifestyle, and fine art photography. I enjoy capturing beautiful moments, raw emotion and movement. I am very passionate about capturing the magic of childhood creative ways. But enough about me, on to the lesson;

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in the water” ~ Loren Eiseley

Reflections! I love capturing reflections. If I come across one, whether it is inside or outside, you bet I am going to try to create with it. A body of water can act like a mirror and help create a beautiful, yet artistic visual story.

1. Find Water

First things first…find still water. You don’t need to use a lake, river, or pond to photograph a reflection. Puddles can actually produce the best reflections. You can find refections in small puddles, or large puddles. Some are still, and some are rippled. Some are deep, and some are shallow. If you find a shallow one, you can step right in there to get interesting angles and perspectives. I’ve even seen where people pour water on the ground in front of their camera to create their own puddles to snag a cool reflection.

2. Time of day, and lighting

Now you need to figure a time of day where the wind is tame. I find when there is some wind, ripples in the water can also create interesting abstract looking reflections. You can scout out an area to determine when you are most likely going to get the best reflections. For me, I pretty much wing it. In the Spring, as well as after a significant rainfall, I will venture out and capture reflections when the opportunity is there. I personally prefer to shoot the hour after sunrise or the hour before sunset. This is the time that the sky seems to come alive with colour, and texture from the clouds. Finding puddles, or bodies of water to shoot reflections after dark is also fun. The reflections will have colourful lights in them.

In this image, the puddle was still really icy. This resulted in the reflection looking really abstract and full of texture.

3. Change your perspective

Getting down low and trying different angles is the key. Don’t be afraid to get wet! (This is where a GoPro comes in handy). I love getting low with my camera and angling up towards the sky, or at my subject. I will always carry a ziplock bag with me in my camera bag (with the bottom cut). I can then slip my camera in the bag to protect it from any accidents with the water.

shot with my GoPro Hero 9

4. Look for symmetry

Symmetry is pleasing to the viewer’s eye. I never realized it until recently, that I crave symmetry and balance in my work. I love leading lines, and I also compose many of my images using centre composition. Look for landmarks, architecture, leading lines, or patterns that will direct your viewer to the subject.

5. Gear

I always carry my Sony A7iii body with my Sony 35 mm f1.8 lens. I almost always have my GoPro dangling off my neck, and my DJI Mavic Air ready to take to the skies as well. For landscape shots, a tripod would be beneficial. A tripod could be useful when taking reflections at night, so you can lower your shutter speed and not lose sharpness. You can also find a bench, table or tree stump to set your camera on if you do not own a tripod.

Shot using my DJI Mavic Air

6. Settings

I am a wide open shooter, so my puddle images are all shot with my f-stop between 1.8-2.0. I love the slice of focus, and the bokeh it can create. However, when I am shooting a landscape shot with a large body of water, I will narrow down my f-stop to get more of my image is focus.

In this image I was shooting wide open, focusing on my subject. This produced a painterly-like reflection.

7. Post-processing

I love sharpening my reflections in photoshop to really make it pop. I will also make my colours more vibrant by playing with hue/saturation masks. I also love flipping my image so that the reflection is at the top, with the subject at the bottom of the frame just to play with perspective.

With this image I flipped it upside down, to make it look more interesting.

8. Experiment

Try increasing your shutter speed and capture action shots in a reflection. If you are having trouble focusing on the reflection, then try manually focusing, or focus on the subject instead. The more you practice, the easier it will be to spot reflections and shoot them in creative ways! Remember to look not only for puddles of water, any shiny surface has the potential to produce reflections. Think: windows, sunglasses, buildings, metal surfaces, mirrors. You can also make your own reflections (try putting your iPhone in front of your lens, carry a small mirror, use a glass ball, use a prism, or spill some water on pavement to make your own little puddle).