What are the shooting skills of water reflection?

Shooting reflection is easy to master among many composition techniques. Glass, mirrors, rain, seaside and lake water will all reflect light. Here, we focus on the skills that need to be paid attention to when shooting reflections at the seaside or in the lake.

1, the water should be calm.

When shooting a mirror-like lake, the calmer the water surface, the more prominent the reflecting surface, so we need to shoot when the waves on the water surface are small. When wind or ships pass by, ripples will appear on the water surface, and the chance of taking a clear reflection will be greatly reduced.

If you want to travel abroad, you might as well ask the local people early when the wind is light or the water is clear. It is usually easier to shoot in the early morning.

If the water can't calm down, we can use slow doors and tripods to stabilize the level. This method is suitable for shooting light reflection at night, and the technique is basically the same as shooting running water.

2, along the light or side light shooting

The best shooting time is when the scene is exposed to sunlight or side light, that is to say, when the sunlight hits the front or side of the scene, the reflecting surface is the most obvious. At this time, if it is calm, the chances of taking a beautiful reflection will greatly increase.

3. Use gradient gray filter (GND) or black card technology to balance the light difference.

The reflection on the water surface is usually darker than the light in the scene itself. If we want to make the reflection clearer, we can use a gradient gray filter (GND) or a black card to balance the light difference, especially when shooting the reflection of lamp light at night.

4. Intermediate components

Different from general composition, balance is more important when shooting reflection. You can boldly put horizontal lines in the middle of the photo to make the scenery and reflection set each other off. Of course, sometimes it's a good attempt to just shoot the reflection.

5. Flip the photo up and down 180 degrees.

Do you think ordinary reflections are boring? It may be more interesting to turn the photo over and put the reflection on it later.

6. use CPL circular polarizer

CPL can eliminate the white reflective part of the water surface, making the reflection more prominent. Please refer to the usage of circular polarizer CPL for the usage of CPL.