When photographing a wedding day, the vast majority of the pictures captured will be candid in nature. But if I just mingle around the day mindlessly taking pictures of this and that, I will end up with a whole bunch of boring pictures to deliver to my clients. The challenge I give to myself when shooting a wedding is to find ways of turning a candid moment into an interesting photograph, and one of the best ways of achieving this is to utilize reflections.
I like to break up reflection photographs into three broad categories
The reflective surface is between you and your subject.
Your subject is between you and the reflective surface.
Your subject is behind you and the reflective surface is behind you.
Reflective surfaces that are in between you and your subject can be used to “”double up” the scene in front of you. In the example below, I am using a cabinet mirror in the corner of the room to reflect Leandri while she sits on the bed reading a letter from her soon-to-be husband.
Another really common use of this technique when a body of water is used as the reflective surface.
The underlying principle at work here is that your camera is pointing parallel to the reflective surface, and that your camera is as close to the plane of the reflective surface as possible. So in the first picture above I am right up against the cabinet with my camera looking straight down the side-to-side plane of the mirror.
Another time I always look to try and use this technique is during the brides prep. In the picture below, I have focused on the makeup artist and the bride’s mother in a handheld mirror left on the table.
Taking reflection pictures when your subject is between you and the reflective surface is really straight forward and will almost always be in either a wall-mounted mirror or a window giving a good reflection, and is a great way to use your subject to create a soft foreground while focusing on the scene in the reflection. The most important rule to not break when taking these shots…DO NOT catch your own reflection in the picture!
Reflection shots with your subject behind you are also extremely simple. If you get close to the reflective surface and shoot with your aperture quite wide, you can create a really soft image with the only your subject in sharp focus which really draws the eye to where you want it to go, while also creating framing within the shot.
Although reflective shots will almost always be found in a wall-mounted mirror, or in a reflective window, or a body of water, there are other opportunities out there. A smart phones lying on a table can provide a useful reflective surface between you and your subject. In the shot below, I am using Nathanial's sunglasses to reflective is bride Michaela during their wedding reception.
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