Clever use of reflection makes the beautiful scenery shooting more divided.

Lead: The elements of reflection are often added in landscape photography to make the picture look more tense. What matters should be paid attention to when creating this type of landscape photography, or what problems have you encountered? In The Extreme of Slow Shutter, please clone bird and Alice to answer some questions you may encounter.

Clever use of reflection to make beautiful scenery shooting more sub-Q: How to shoot a perfect reflection?

Shooting beautiful morning scenery with perfect reflection is believed to be the favorite theme of many photographers. But to have a perfect reflection, the premise is to find a surface that can reflect the sky. In most cases, this surface is usually water. So it is necessary to observe the local environment before taking pictures. It's much easier if it's near the sea, lake or even fish pond, but if it's not near the water's edge, sometimes an unremarkable pool or a small puddle will have amazing effects, which can be fully utilized by using composition techniques. In addition to water, sometimes some reflective surfaces such as glass or acrylic can also be used to create similar reflective effects. However, when facing the natural water surface, it is often disturbed by the wind. In the case of wind, even tiny ripples will blur or even deform the reflection. At this time, the slow shutter discussed in this book will be a very useful skill.

▲ The mirror beauty of sea and sky is the favorite of many photographers. When watching the tide, use the shoal with water to reflect the beautiful clouds in the sky, and at the same time use the zoom mirror to slow down the shutter speed, so that the water surface is more calm and waveless. (Shooting parameters: Nikon D700+AF Nicole 20mm F2.8 D fixed-focus lens, M mode, F 16 3.8 seconds [B shutter], ISO200, cloudy white balance, ND8, tripod shooting).

Q: What are the ideas and skills when shooting?

In the face of a scene with a beautiful reflection, the author often asks himself first: Should I take a mirror image that will confuse the viewer? Or should we keep it clear from top to bottom? If you want the former, it's best to make the reflecting surface as calm as possible and consistent with the sky. As long as the wind is not too strong, you can get a nearly flat reflection on the water by narrowing the aperture or even adding a reducing mirror and slowing down the shutter to a few seconds. If the desired effect is the latter, in addition to shortening the exposure time to no more than one second, so as to properly retain the wave sense of the water surface, some small objects that will attract the attention of the viewer, such as a person, a boat, a dead wood or a stone, can be arranged in the picture, so that the viewer can have a sense of direction on the picture and easily distinguish the up-and-down relationship between the sky and the ground. These two design ideas have their own advantages, so you might as well try them both when shooting.

▲ The bustling night scene of Macau Casino will be staged after sunset. Seize the intermittent gap of fountain performance and use the calm water surface with a slow shutter to capture the perfect reflection. Usually, when facing this scene, the exposure value on the water is much smaller than the exposure value in the actual building. At this time, it is necessary to match a gradient mirror or a black card to balance the upper and lower exposure value. (shooting parameters: Nikon D700+AF-S Nicole 18-35mm F3.5-4.5g ED, 18mm end, M mode, F10/.3 [b shutter], ISO200, automatic white balance, Nd.

Q: What gadgets can I use when shooting?

When shooting a reflection, there is often a big exposure value gap between the actual image such as the sky and the reflection. The gadgets needed at this time include gradient filters or black cards. In addition, if you want to use a slow shutter to create the effect of calming the water surface, or if you want to have a slow shutter to facilitate the operation of the black card, adding a reducing mirror appropriately will make shooting easier. Therefore, it is suggested to prepare more color subtractors with different dimming values, such as ND8, ND64 and even ND400, which will be an indispensable helper for you who like morning and evening photography.

In addition, the polarizer often used in landscape photography is also a useful tool when shooting reflections. In normal use, the function of polarizer is to filter out the polarized light on the surface of the object being photographed, so that the reflection on the surface of the object being photographed disappears and the image is more vivid and stereoscopic. However, when shooting the reflection, we can do the opposite and deliberately rotate the polarizer to make the water surface or the reflecting surface present the strongest reflection angle, so that the reflection is closer to the reality and the mirror surface is more obvious.

▲ Use a small pond to reflect a small corner of the building as an ornament of the picture, and leave the visual focus on the building itself where the lights start. Using a very slow shutter, even if there is a small fountain disturbing the water surface in the pond, a long exposure can still create a calm reflection. (shooting parameters: Nikon D700+AF-S Nicole 18-35mm F3.5-4.5g ED, 18mm end, M mode, F7. 1 25 [B shutter], ISO500, automatic white balance, with tripod shooting).

Q: What are your thoughts when you compose music?

To create a perfect specular reflection, the best visual effect should be to divide the picture into upper and lower halves and use 1/2 for composition. But in the mouth of many photographers, even in photography books, it is always suggested that photographers use 1/3 composition or any other composition method, that is, they do not use 1/2 composition method. However, in my personal opinion, what kind of composition method to use depends on the object you are shooting and the feeling you want to express. Since we want to show a perfect mirror image, what's wrong with adopting 1/2, the most intuitive composition method?

In addition, when shooting a reflection, it is not necessary to present a wide reflection at the bottom of the picture. Using a small pond or a small pool to arrange a part of the main body in the picture to appear in the reflection is another way to show the world in the mirror.

My advice to you is: in the face of such an interesting subject as reflection, don't limit your creativity, don't stick to the traditional thinking of photographic composition, please use your imagination boldly and shoot more interesting pictures.

▲ In a perfectly symmetrical scene, it is also a good choice to break the existing old thinking and traditional norms and adopt 1/2 composition for framing. In addition, waiting patiently for the right prospect (this picture shows two children playing) can make the picture more vivid. (shooting parameters: Nikon D700+AF-Snikkor18-35mm F3.5-4.5g ED, 24mm end, A mode, F8, 1/500s, ISO200, daylight white balance, hand-held shooting).