How to take great pictures the Dan Thompson way...: Mirror, mirror....reflections and how to make them specialror.

Mirror mirror on the wall...How can I capture it all?

A lake in Prescott, MI

Reflections can make some great images in many different ways. You can get perfect mirror images, some cool distorted or what I "grained: just makes the image reflections. or just the subject reflected. its all up to you, and each has its own considerations to think about when shooting.

Across Elbow Lake between Skidway Lake & Prescott, MI

Down the Mall in Washington DC

A Dam Bridge along the As Sable River in the Huron Nat Forrest

Lakes & Ponds are great for these shots. they give you some of the most important elements for the reflective pictures. Most notable of these elements is an edge between the subject and the reflection. This may seem a bit strange, but that break point, for some reason, makes the viewer more comfortable with it. It comes off more natural to us. This is a good thing, because it gives you a good base for your creativity in the shot.

Bishop Park Pier on The Detroit River

Wyandotte, MI

Elezabeth Park Bridge

Trenton, MI

At the bottom of High Banks on the Rifle Riveer

Ogamaw Co. MI

Down Stream form H.O.E. along the Rifel River

Aranac Co. MI

One of the more interesting things I find in doing reflections is something I really like...distorted reflections by movement of the water. Rivers and streams are great for this. The best way to capture both of these water based reflections is with a Tripod and the (A)perture (F-max to your camera setting mode). If a tripod isn't available I will settle for a 1/45 second speed (or as close as possible) in the speed setting mode. This use of the camera will maximize depth of field in the pictures.

Sunset over the Trenton Cannel & Elezabeth Park

From Grosse Ile, MI

The Huron River in Lower Huron River Metro Park

New boston, MI

Lake Belleville

Belleville, MI

Tawas Lighthouse in Tawas State Park

Tawas, MI

Another thing I like to have in a lot of my shots is what I call "grit". Grit is the stuff in the water that just there. They can actual make the picture so much more interesting than if it was a perfectly clean reflection image. Grit is good.

Rifle River...I think...Aranac Co. MI

Tree reflections from Island Park

Eaton Rapids, MI

Another treat way to play with reflections is to just shoot the reflected subject as the subject. This is a great way to capture some real cool abstracts...especially with choppy waters. I set my camera to faster speed, because the depth of field isn't as important. The image your shooting tends to be either as flat as a wall or almost that flat. that is why f-stop setting aren't much of a concern.

Back Side of Skidway Lake

Skidway, Lake, MI

Santa Monica Pier

Santa Monica, CA

Dock in Lake Erie Metro Park

Gibraltar, MI

Here is my final note on "Mirror" shots...
Bathroom mirror shots...that so many use for their profiles...should be a last resort shot...then NEVER...with a flash. Have timer delay on camera...USE IT. I don't take these pictures.

If you can see you or the camera in the mirror, you will see it in the picture. You should either change your position to the mirror or move the mirror. I shot mirror pictures everyday when I was running the portrait studio...that's why I don't have a great one to share...I got burned out with them, and I sold all of them i took...sorry.