Table of Contents
Summary
Reflection Mirror Photography also recognized as mirror photography, uses reflective surfaces to create an artistic scene echo. This type of photography can add an exciting touch to places of interest to photographers, such as oceans, lakes, puddles, and even raindrops.
How To Do A Photo Session In The Mirror
- Creative Mirror Photography Ideas
- Look to Pinterest for inspiration.
- Put the mirror opposite your face.
- Put your mirror on the floor.
- Choose to pardon the time of day you want to do your photoshoot.
- Shoot with a low aperture (f/stop)
- Make it a mirror photo that people will remember!
Some Awesome Mirror Photography Ideas To Try For Yourself
Use Artificial Light To Enhance Your Model’s Features
One of the best things about mirror photography is that it suggests limitless potential. As long as you charge a mirror, you can take photos wherever and whenever you want.
If you want to stay indoors, experiment with different outfits, and take great photos in limited light, you can easily do that. You only have to work with artificial lighting and DSLR camera setups, usually not needed in the warmer months.
Artificial light can enhance the characteristics of your subject. When taking photos, be sure to change the color temperature and ISO of your photos manually.
Colour temperature lets you correct unflattering hues, and ISO helps you capture sharp photos in low-light locations.
2. Use Manual Focus For The Sharpest Results
Depending on the concept of your shot, you may need to manage many dynamic foregrounds and backgrounds in your compositions.
Because of this, autofocus may pick up the wrong subject or not focus at all. Especially if you are working with a small aperture like f/1.2, you can avoid this by switching to manual focus.
If you don’t use it regularly, you will feel very uncomfortable at first. Don’t let that bother you! Manual focus enables you to capture exactly what you want.
The mirror you use is likely to create distortions on your model’s face. These only become visible when you zoom in on your photo, so they shouldn’t be a problem.
Free Up Space In Small Rooms With Large Mirrors
Small spaces like winches have mirrors to give the impression of extra space. You can use this artificial to your advantage when shooting in small spaces.
If you live in a small bed-sitter, you can use a large mirror to capture the reflections of your subject from afar. This is especially useful when using a zoom lens, which is generally impractical for indoor use.
You can also use big mirrors to create extra space between you and your model. It gives them more comfort and freedom to pose without worrying about bumping into the camera.
4. Shoot Through Several Mirrors To Create A Strange Effect
Surreal photography is about otherworldly concepts and stories inspired by fairy tales. Some surreal photographers, like Rosie Hardy, use their photo editing skills to create rare photos.
Others, like John Dykstra, use crutches and their imaginations to create invisible masterpieces.
However, you don’t always need excellent editing skills or props to create surreal photos. Through the use of mirrors (at least two), you can pay attention to different viewpoints of your model’s face and reflect objects that would not be visible in a photo with a mirror.
Here you can also use different reflective surfaces to get better images.
5. Take Outdoor Your Mirror
There are many exciting outdoor places you can enhance using a mirror. You can use it to protect parts of your model’s body, reflect a beautiful position, or improve your landscape photography skills.
I recommend using a small mirror outside. Carrying a large mirror is inconvenient. And it will make your photo shoot much more uncomfortable than a regular photo shoot with smaller props.
Mirror Photography Ideas, Tips, and Examples
Finding new tools and techniques is one of the most exciting aspects of moving through our photography journey. They boost our creativity and help us avoid constantly repeating ourselves in our imagery. The best tools are easy to use and offer diverse applications. One creative tool we can use to significant effect is a mirror or similarly reflective surface, including windows, screens, prisms, or water.
Most of these items are readily available and easy to use. All of them can help us produce incredible results. Use mirror photography ideas, tips, and examples to enhance your creative portraits, wedding imagery, selfies, and more.
Use Your Subjects as Foreground Objects in Their Portraits
This is one of the mirror photography ideas you’ll find instrumental when capturing bride-prep or groom portraits as a wedding photographer. Placing your subjects in the foreground and shooting over their shoulders provides an easy way to add depth to the image and draws the viewer’s focus right to your topic in the mirror.
You’ll notice in the mirror portrait above that we’ve stacked several compositional elements. For example, the groom’s placement also satisfies the rule of thirds. The bright and airy style complements the overall happy tone and excitement that the image conveys. These elements work together to create a more impactful and visually compelling photo.
Conceal Unwanted Elements in the Scene
We can use different thoughtful surfaces like mirrors, prisms, and even smartphones to help conceal unwanted elements in the scene. At the same time, the likenesses can also enhance the image’s visual appeal. Let’s look at some examples.
Prism Photography Ideas
While not technically a mirror, the reflective belongings of prisms make them practical tools for the purposes stated above. For example, check out the wedding photo I took using a prism during preparation. The reflection on the top of the image misshapen the scene and makes an otherwise ordinary ceiling look more attractive. This allowed me to shoot a wider conservation shot that can open up storytelling choices when conniving a blog spread or album.
Here’s another example below from the same session.
- Follow these steps when using a prism as part of your new arsenal of mirror photography ideas:
- Place the prism in contradiction of your lens and angle it toward a light basis
- Shift the angle of the prism to help regulator light alterations and reflections
- Keep your subjects visible in the frame
- Mirror Photography Ideas Using a Smartphone for Suppression
Add Off-Camera Flash to Highpoint Your Subject in the Reflection
Whereas in the former tip, we placed the mirror or reflective object directly between the camera and the subject to physically block annoying basics, we can also use off-camera flash to highlight our issue in a reflection and limit what we see and don’t see in the scene. Here’s how.
Create a Key Light and Rim Light with a Single Light Source
Mark Wallace sets out to use a mirror to add complexity in a small space, which works great. However, one aspect I found particularly interesting for mirror photography ideas was Mark’s use of the mirror to create a backlit limelight with the same light source secondhand to light the front of the subject. Without a bright ambient light already in place, this could only be done using a mirror or some other highly thoughtful object. It’s a clever technique worth checking out.
Enhance Storytelling for Travel Portraits
Here’s a simple mirror-taking picture idea you can use on your next road trip. Although, you don’t essentially need to hit the road to detention a travel portrait like this. All you need is a car with a side-view mirror and a decent light source to adequately light you
Conclusion
I hope you create this article on mirror photography ideas, tips, and examples helpful. While we may not have a mirror handy, per se, we always have a thoughtful surface available to which we can apply many of these tips and improve creativity in our portraits. I don’t consider this an exhaustive list, but I hope it helps inspire some new ideas in your expedition. On that end, what are some other mirror photography ideas and tips you’ve rummage-sale that you can share with us?