Weekly Workshop 1 – Reflections in the Panhandle

I wanted to keep track of what I learned in my Weekly Workshop so I figured I would just blog about.

Yesterday, as has been common place this year in San Francisco, there was crazy rain up until 4pm.  Rain was so heavy in fact that I had tentatively canceled the practice session.  But the sun popped out so I ran down to meet Annika, Loden and baby brother Shael in the Golden Gate Panhandle.  I was there to practice reflection shots but Loden was there to fish.   Cutest thing – he kept handing me a stick and asking “do you want to fish with me?”

I was inspired to try reflections after seeing the work of FC Wong (http://www.fcwongweddings.com/).  His work is awesome and so original that I wanted to give them a go.

What I learned:

*  colors look great after a rain storm

*  Reflections for reflections sake don’t work – entire image still needs to have artistic quality

*  With a reflection, I need to clarify what is the main focus – the reflection or the real item/person.  If it isn’t identified, then the observer has the unsettling experience of going back and forth between the two.

*  Make sure that that the reflection contains everything – I have one shot below would have been the money shot of the shoot if I hadn’t cut his head off in the reflection.

*  in a flat reflection like a puddle, you can turn the image upside down for an interesting effect.

Great first practice session – that you Ehrlich family.

Gallery is here.

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Blog Link:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/1135

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