PC_Advisor_Issue_264_July_2017

Feature: Best photography techniques
17. How to use reflections
When shooting reflections you need
to focus on exactly what the reflective
surface is presenting, often that being
the sky. If the sky or background isn’t
interesting, then it doesn’t matter
how perfect the water or shiny the
chrome, it won’t generate anything
visually exciting. You just might need
to wait for the weather to change, or
alter your viewpoint.
Being able to see these possibilities
is part of becoming a photographer.
Here’s a nice shot of geese (below),
but very little interest in the water
reflections. Contrasted with one
(right) where the sky and background
provide a wonderfully colourful
backdrop to the feeding bird.
1
2
3
Without polariser
With polariser
4
the camera settings, as is the increment.
When the images are recombined on the
PC (or Mac) using Photoshop or the many
free HDR tools available, you should end
up with detailed shadows without blownout
highlights. Because of the time delay
between shots, it is best to restrict this
technique to static scenes and avoid moving
subjects. And, unless you’ve got a very
rapid burst mode and strong light, using
a tripod is also a necessity.
Photos 1, 2 and 3 (above) were taken
at different exposures. The three shots
are recombined in software to create one
image (4) with enhanced dynamic range.
18. HDR from a single image
If you’ve only a single image, you can still
process it to get the very best out of the
captured data within it, especially if you
use a RAW file format.
July 2017 www.pcadvisor.co.uk/features 87