Reflections with impact!

[Ruben Alfu]

Not happy with IQ, but I like the way this reflection makes a sort of caricature of three landmark buildings in NY.

Ruben Alfu : New Yorker

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[Ken Tanaka]

This is a scene/location with good potential, Ruben! Now you should return and wait. What you've shot is in the "close-but-not-a-photo-yet" category. The lower four panes need to show something like passers-by. I'd also love to see a plane in one of the upper 4 panes.

I think what many photo enthusiasts with cameras on the street don't understand is that good "street" photography is very often about waiting for a scene to develop. It's generally not a matter of pure happenstance. Familiarity with locations, human nature, and local customs is what often leads to one terrific image. You might find a good location, such as this, but so what? That's only a stage set. The next challenge is to determine the right time of day/year and to wait for just the right combination of elements to come together. I have several images that have taken me up to two years to create by revisiting scenes and waiting, and waiting, and waiting,....

Keep at it, Ruben. You have a good nose for the hunt.

p.s. If you want to see a nice exposition of some of my remarks watch this William Klein video in which he discusses his shot selections using some of his contact sheets.

 

[Asher Kelman]

This is a scene/location with good potential, Ruben! Now you should return and wait. What you've shot is in the "close-but-not-a-photo-yet" category. The lower four panes need to show something like passers-by. I'd also love to see a plane in one of the upper 4 panes.

I think what many photo enthusiasts with cameras on the street don't understand is that good "street" photography is very often about waiting for a scene to develop. It's generally not a matter of pure happenstance. Familiarity with locations, human nature, and local customs is what often leads to one terrific image. You might find a good location, such as this, but so what? That's only a stage set. The next challenge is to determine the right time of day/year and to wait for just the right combination of elements to come together. I have several images that have taken me up to two years to create by revisiting scenes and waiting, and waiting, and waiting,....

Keep at it, Ruben. You have a good nose for the hunt.

p.s. If you want to see a nice exposition of some of my remarks watch this William Klein video in which he discusses his shot selections using some of his contact sheets.

Apart from Bresson and Cappa and the like, much of the iconic images that we think are spontaneous are not gifts from God but the result of plodding hard work of refinement.

So thanks for adding the prod for our efforts to go the extra measure to move from good to excellent and then to outstanding. That means working, planning and waiting like a hunter or master thief!

Asher

 

[Rachel Foster]

This is not at all in the same vein, but it IS a reflection and was a lot of fun. It ain't art, but fun counts for something!

ISO 800 (Rebel XTi), 1/200, 60mm, f/2.8.

Jacob Eliana: Egg On Top Old Piano​

 

[Asher Kelman]

This is not at all in the same vein, but it IS a reflection and was a lot of fun. It ain't art, but fun counts for something!

ISO 800 (Rebel XTi), 1/200, 60mm, f/2.8.

Jacob Eliana: Egg On Top Old Piano​

Rachel,

That's the germ of the concept. Now might it spark your imagination to go further? Draw on top of a B&W photocopy of the print. Reread Ken's post. Just for now, nice try!

Asher

 

[Nill Toulme]

I don't think the reflection makes this image, but I do think it adds to it substantially. I just happened to have it handy... it's an old image shot with... gasp... film. One of my favorites.

Nill

 

[Rachel Foster]

Lovely, Nill.

Asher, that is a lost opportunity. I did that last year on my old, beat-up piano (which someone set on fire a few months before when I was shooting candles on the piano bench!). I now have a Kuwai K3 upright and I begin to break out in hives if anyone breathes on it!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Lovely, Nill.

Asher, that is a lost opportunity. I did that last year on my old, beat-up piano (which someone set on fire a few months before when I was shooting candles on the piano bench!). I now have a Kuwai K3 upright and I begin to break out in hives if anyone breathes on it!

Nonsense, Rachel, there's black plastic or a tile, each about $1-3! Artists make things happen!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I don't think the reflection makes this image, but I do think it adds to it substantially. I just happened to have it handy... it's an old image shot with... gasp... film. One of my favorites.

Nill Toulme Reflected​

Nill,

This picture will be best, to my mind, printed very large with the waves at eye level. Then one is faced with the reflection just below the waves and it's so impressive. The water attracts attention but the bather intrigues and so we get drawn in and that's splendid when it happens. The colors work very well. It's also soothing and reflective in itself. The composition, itself could lock you in the darkroom for months there are so many rich possibilities in what one would think is so simple.

Thanks for adding to this theme,

Asher

 

[Ruben Alfu]

This is a scene/location with good potential, Ruben! Now you should return and wait. What you've shot is in the "close-but-not-a-photo-yet" category. The lower four panes need to show something like passers-by. I'd also love to see a plane in one of the upper 4 panes.

I think what many photo enthusiasts with cameras on the street don't understand is that good "street" photography is very often about waiting for a scene to develop. It's generally not a matter of pure happenstance. Familiarity with locations, human nature, and local customs is what often leads to one terrific image. You might find a good location, such as this, but so what? That's only a stage set. The next challenge is to determine the right time of day/year and to wait for just the right combination of elements to come together. I have several images that have taken me up to two years to create by revisiting scenes and waiting, and waiting, and waiting,....

Keep at it, Ruben. You have a good nose for the hunt.

p.s. If you want to see a nice exposition of some of my remarks watch this William Klein video in which he discusses his shot selections using some of his contact sheets.

Hello Ken, I truly appreciate your interest in this image as well as your advices and words of encouragement. This particular reflection was very familiar to me, I had it on my mind for quite some time before going there to do this photo. I was moved exclusively by the way these iconic buildings, with such a grandiose aura, were "caricatured" by the windows. The space around the buildings is just a frame, and it helps to make them look less dominant, to stress the irony of the irreverent windows.

Thanks so much for the William Klein video link.

 

[Michael Fontana]

Using reflections expands space and objects, while keeping them natural - whithout technical cheats.

The reflections on the next example create a poetic counterpart to the rough construction; that shot has been printed as a new years card for a museum:

The other possibility shows the reflections only - hiding the object (construction) itself. It's just a photo of the concrete floor covered with water.

It will become a large print - laying horizontally on a socle for a exhibition. You will see it as it was taken, looking to the ground......

 

[Asher Kelman]

I am used to taking "flat", very square and centered pictures. The photography class I am taking is challenging me to change my perspective. Please let me know what you think of these.

Wayne Stratton: "Phantom of the Opera"

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I added this picture by Wayne from his thread here. I really like the chance finding of the halloween cloud. Maybe it's saying something. The facets of the glass break things up in an interesting way and show ways in which we can construct creatively.

 

[Rachel Foster]

I liked that shot of Wayne's, too, Asher.


I've been trying to create a new reflection photo for this thread. This is what I've come up with. It isn't "art," but I'm putting it in the fun category. It's a candle holder filled with glass pebbles sitting on the keyboard cover of my piano.

ISO 6400, f/4.0, 1/50, handheld. I was not able to "get" what I wanted while attached to tripod.

Jacob Eliana: Piano Reflections​

 

[Matthew Bryan]

I"m not sure if this qualifies but it caught my eye on that particular day.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Using reflections expands space and objects, while keeping them natural - whithout technical cheats. The reflections on the next example create a poetic counterpart to the rough construction; that shot has been printed as a new years card for a museum:​

Michael Fontana: Expanding Space #1
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Michael,

Impressive work, simple & effective! The hard concrete floor seeming to float and becomes the center of something that might move to explore the planet. Reflections not only help to make our 3D world recognizable and extend our vision beyond the camera or behind a subject, it also has the opportunity, as here, to transform a hard solid structure to something ethereal. That ability to go beyond what was there to allow the observer to fill in the blank spaces in this new universe, is one of the delights of imaginative art. It does not, as in this case, require any beauty or purpose beyond being.

Michael Fontana: Expanding Space #2​

You have kindly left one leaf in the right hand corner to help orientate us that the picture is a reflection.​

 

[Rachel Foster]

Yes, I love the leaf.

 

[Michael Fontana]

........ That ability to go beyond what was there to allow the observer to fill in the blank spaces in this new universe, is one of the delights of imaginative art. It does not, as in this case, require any beauty or purpose beyond being.

Thanks Asher
you' re not the first using that type of description - some thought it beeing a montage, but realising on a 2nd view that its just real - when they recognized the tower in the background.
The reason for shooting a night is, that that photos's view is pointing south - a nono during day in the winter season.

Sidenote for the color: city and sky are lighted just with the cities ambient light, meanwhile the construction' site light is the add at the cranes top-back. There weren't many options.

You have kindly left one leaf in the right hand corner to help orientate us that the picture is a reflection.

There's no reason to take it away. If you move skycranes for some photos you don't bother with leaves.

 

[Graham Harris]

I took this last week after a couple of days of storms. It is a puddle reflection of the second largest hotel on this side of the island.

Graham

 

[Phil Marion]

i love good reflection shots. Paradoxically, it seems whenever i PLAN to look for interesting reflections I NEVER find one. I just end up frustrated. The only good reflection photos i have are ones that i stumble upon by sheer luck.

 

[Michael Nagel]

Most of my reflection shots are planned. I have a few where I was simply lucky, among these is the one I like the most.
This is a planned one I like.

Eingang-Nord-3 - click on photo for larger version​

Best regards,
Michael

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Love that one!

 

[Mike Shimwell]

Just noticed this thread and thought I'd share a recent picture.

Mike

artspace - Mike Shimwell

 

[Sandrine Bascouert]

Long time lurker, then poster...Here I am:

Salisbury Cathedral - UK

Road Sign - France​

 

[Charles L Webster]

Ah reflections, one of my very favorite things to shoot.

Here's one of a building in San Jose, CA that I like. The reflected building is about 200 yards from the one reflecting it. I used a 300 mm lens on a tripod on top of my car to get the angle right.

And this one was featured in one of Asher's articles here a couple of years ago. This is some wood in a salt evaporation pond at sunset.

 

[Michael Nagel]

Ben - Thanks.

Mike - I love the combination of inside and outside in your photo.

Sandrine - The cathedral shot is amazing, difficult to get the orientation right. Did you use a tripod? The road sign is intriguing by the reflecting structure.

Charles - I like the opposition of straight lines and distorted geometry in the first one. For the second, this is all about colors.

Here is the lucky shot I like the most:

Focus on green - click on photo for larger version​

This is one of my favorite lake reflections:

Trübseespiegelung - click on photo for larger version​

Best regards,
Michael

 

[Sandrine Bascouert]

Michael,
Your portrait of the photographer is well done! good idea... (the man with the big green eye by Ed Wood!)

I didn't use a tripod for it was taken with my small LZ4...
The central basin (?) is a sort of contemporary work of art they've put in the middle with scriptures on each side...This is a marvelous subject for photography (needless to say that the rest of the cathedral worth the visit as well)

The road sign is quite PP. hehehhe
but the cathedral has only the usual curves adjustments done.


I also like the distortions on Charles' image... It's a very "perfected" structured image.

 

[Michael Nagel]

Sandrine,

thanks - I did not think of Ed Wood, but now as you mentioned him...
I like cathedrals for their geometry and the sometimes surprising details.

Best regards,
Michael

 

[Odille Esmonde-Morgan]

Through a Glass darkly

Taken from outside through the glass doors of the Tweed Regional Art Gallery during the "Art Horses' exhibition in 2007. I went there for the publication I was working for to take some shots and the reflections struck me, this one was quite a surprise when it came up.


Art horse through a glass darkly by Photography by Odille, on Flickr

 

[Michael Nagel]

Thinking about life

Seen on an old cemetary in Munich I never visited before:

Reflektion über das Leben​

Title means 'Thinking about life'.

Michael

 

[Michael Nagel]

I am somehow addicted to reflections, so here is one more:

Zug​

The title means train - which can be seen in the reflections.

Best regards,
Michael