Photographing Reflections by Nick Joyner

Photographing Reflections - Tips and Tricks

How to Photograph Reflections Blog

Like most photographers of the outdoors, over the years I have taken images showing reflections, typically of landscapes reflecting in perfectly still lakes.

However, more recently I had taken photographs of reflection in isolation. Often, these were brightly coloured blocks of flats beside water. These did not particularly satisfy me and were far from my mind when I took the DLR to Canary Wharf in 2015.

It was a foggy November morning, so I had it in mind to photograph the towers disappearing into mist. But by the time I arrived the mist was dissipating, revealing a clear blue sky. 

 

With my plans thwarted, I noticed how the vivid colours of the buildings were reflected in the water of the docks. I spent two or three hours photographing the reflections. 

They made completely abstract images, and the reflections from different buildings interacted with each other to make more complex patterns. It seemed to me that I had found material that no-one else had apparently noticed, though I discovered a few weeks later that this was not so. Nevertheless, one of these images was commended in the 2016 Landscape Photographer of the Year awards. By then I had returned a few times, adding considerably to the files on my hard drive. There seemed to be an almost infinite variety of patterns to be seen in the bodies of water. I have also photographed the reflections of the old dockyard cranes and other structures in the windows of the area’s buildings.

My technique for taking these pictures is quite simple. Choose a bright day with a gentle breeze to give some life to the water. Most are best taken with a longish lens (200mm or more) aimed at a fairly acute angle to the water’s surface. Use a fast shutter speed to sharply capture the ever-moving reflections, and a smallish aperture to give depth of field.

 

I have printed these images up to A2 size on my Epson 3880, using Fotospeed’s Smooth Cotton 300 paper. The smooth, white surface of the paper made it the perfect canvas for reflection photography

I have also produced a couple of hand-made books. For these, I used Fotospeed Matt Duo 240 and High White Smooth Lite Duo, again to good effect. I have taken advantage of Fotospeed’s bespoke profiling service and can highly recommend it, combined with monitor calibration.

 

So, what is the importance of these reflections to me? I suppose that I struggle sometimes to find a picture in a wider view. At least, one that hasn’t been made many times before. These reflections are examples of an intimate and abstract landscape which is forever changing and hence an opportunity to make a truly unique image. For me, they are also a prime example of an interesting subject close to home, to which I can return again and again leaving nearly zero carbon footprint. 

 

Nick Joyner is a photographer based in South East London . You can view more of his work on his website