50 Stunning Examples Of Reflective Photography
Using reflections in photography can lead to some amazing effects and beautiful images. Using water, windows, mirrors or any sort of reflective surface can change an image into a work of art. The wonderful thing about using reflections when taking photos is that they can completely alter the image from something fairly straightforward to something richer or abstract or otherwise more artistic. Sometimes reflections can be annoying and certainly not artistic. But creativity and good-quality photos depend on the photographer being able to see things differently, rather than seeing only one part of a larger whole.
Also, using reflected light can vastly improve the quality of lighting available. Diffused light is generally better for taking photos, and using reflected light, either as the main source of light or for highlighting, is an excellent way to capture diffused light.
Whether you choose to use reflection in an artistic way or as a source of lightning, learning to use reflections in photography will help take your photographic skills to the next level.
Below we present over 50 beautiful examples of reflective photography. All examples are linked to their sources. Below, you can also explore other works of the photographers we’ve featured here.
You may also want to take a look at the following related showcases:
- Beautiful Black-and-White Photography
- 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures
- (Really) Stunning Pictures and Photos
- Let There Be Light: Light Painting and Sculptures
- 45 Beautiful Motion-Blur Photos
- 35 Beautiful Examples Of Rain Photography
Showcase Of Photos With Reflections:
AmsterS@m The Wicked Reflectah
“Old School Beauty BMW reflected in a puddle in Amsterdam…no Photoshop, as usual, just some added saturation and contrast.”
Mackay Botanical Gardens, QLD Australia.
Last Click
Resources
- Examples Of Reflective and Symmetrical Phoography
- Amsterd@m Reflected
Over 400 beautiful reflection shots of Amsterdam, Holland. - The Best Pictures Of Reflection Flickr Group
- *Reflection* Award Flickr Group
Related posts
Also consider our previous articles:
- Beautiful Black-and-White Photography
- 35 Fantastic HDR Pictures
- (Really) Stunning Pictures and Photos
- Let There Be Light: Light Painting and Sculptures
- 45 Beautiful Motion-Blur Photos
- 35 Beautiful Examples Of Rain Photography
(al)
Edo
November 30th, 2008 2:46 pmcool! thank’s
Trond
November 30th, 2008 2:47 pmNice collection :) here is one of my photos with reflection :)
- kupen.net
Ian Armstrong
November 30th, 2008 3:21 pmGreat images. Very inspiring work. Love to know what equipment some of them were taken with. Well done for putting these together.
Tom
November 30th, 2008 3:25 pmit’s funny, how colors changed after digital photography and photoshop postprocessing came up. it’s much more brilliant and contrasted and the effect of the movement of the picture as itself is more merging into the search of detailed information in big connotations – this search for deep meanings and expressions in photography was always there, the perspective is just changing a lot through modern equipment.
anyway, sometimes there was a “wow” looking at the pictures of this list.
Juan Ernesto
November 30th, 2008 3:27 pmGreat collection of photos!
Jesse
November 30th, 2008 3:27 pmThanks. great photos. !!!
www.galaxyspectrum.com
November 30th, 2008 3:36 pmNice colors – but Some are a bit too Photoshopped
Mariam
November 30th, 2008 4:02 pmNiiiice!!
Thanks =)
old school
November 30th, 2008 5:11 pmI miss the days of the darkroom….
Paulo Sacramento
November 30th, 2008 5:21 pmI also got to great examples photographed by me right here:
- Water reflection
- The world seen through my eyes
Therapix
November 30th, 2008 5:48 pmAwesome selection!
Eric- New Orleans Condos and Lofts
November 30th, 2008 6:34 pmLools like water and clouds are in a lot of these. You gave me some great ideas.
2expertsdesign.com
November 30th, 2008 6:43 pmGreat Collection!
Al.B
November 30th, 2008 7:51 pmGorgeous!!!!!
Shabeer
November 30th, 2008 8:15 pmAmazing collection. a smash hit.
Manasa
November 30th, 2008 8:52 pmSome of them are truly amazing! Some of them are a bit ‘regular’ though inspiring. Thanks.
stephanie
November 30th, 2008 9:47 pmhttp://flickr.com/photos/marshallsutcliffe/2959961115/
perhaps another photo to consider?
Steven Clark
November 30th, 2008 9:56 pmI’m a sucker for a good reflective photograph with still water and a few lights like the Kristy Lee, Hobart taken a few nights ago.
Nice set. HDR is starting to wear a bit thin on me though, its getting oversold lately IMO.
Ravi
November 30th, 2008 10:35 pmThanks for giving so many new ideas!
Elumalai
November 30th, 2008 11:06 pmAmazing!!!
I like all these, but my first one is “Linda O’Dell”
Niklaus Gerber
December 1st, 2008 12:31 amSome more : http://www.flickr.com/photos/niklausgerber/869658954/in/set-72157600224856825/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/niklausgerber/509182629/in/set-72157600243901296/
dmsys
December 1st, 2008 12:46 ami hate this ucking HDR.
Modisana
December 1st, 2008 12:50 amThough some of these underwent Photoshop and what nots, it would have been kick a$$ if they were raw…Im not complaining, I mean Im a photographer myself and I know that mastering the camera is no palk in the wark…I mean…Walk in the Park…beautiful post of really inspiring images and place i wish I could afford to go to someday.
quasiallegra
December 1st, 2008 1:03 amI think that the reflection in the geko last click is a post-production fake reflection (waves can’t be like that).
Also: I like when a photo with reflection is flipped uspide down, like this one from a friend of mine. Original and clever!
Francesco Carrella
December 1st, 2008 1:27 amI have this example of reflective photo.. :]
Paul
December 1st, 2008 1:31 amMaybe too picky, but at least a couple of them are not reflections, but refractions. :-)
Nice set, anyway
Keri
December 1st, 2008 1:38 amSome awesome shots there :-)
Two of my reflection shots on flickr
B&W with colour
and
Marina at Night
Amateur Photographer
December 1st, 2008 2:23 amsome nice shots on here.
Andy Montoya
December 1st, 2008 4:44 amDüzen’s the MASTER!!!
Great shoots.
Cya,
http://andymontoya.com
Jason
December 1st, 2008 5:30 amI love these, I like to capture reflections in my oil paintings it’s one of my favorite thing about painting in oils.
I even did a reflection in my logo on my website :) not an art site :)
Musback
December 1st, 2008 5:49 amVery beautiful images thanks so much for sharing these!
If i could share some of my reflective images…
and
Hope you liked
Spindrift
December 1st, 2008 5:56 amthe third photo from the bottom has a faked reflection. (bad one too)
It most likely was never near water at the time of the photo.
all else are nice.
..well, except for the exaggerated HDR in some.
oindypoind
December 1st, 2008 6:05 amAll of mine tagged Reflection [flickr]
Reflection Image [flickr]
Refelection Image [flickr]
A few by me.
oindypoind
December 1st, 2008 6:06 amGreat inspiration in this post, thanks.
webdesign
December 1st, 2008 7:07 amThese images are beautifull! Thanks for sharing
Blake
December 1st, 2008 7:18 amGreat list! Here’s another one I’d recommend:
http://flickr.com/photos/blakesamic/2066771462/in/set-72157602124237457/
Jim Gaudet
December 1st, 2008 7:39 amStunning! Great pictures…
vedd
December 1st, 2008 8:04 amThanks for showcasing my picture on the Wawasan bridge!
Doodie
December 1st, 2008 8:22 amHehe…yes the Gecko is a digital reflection. Most likely done with Flaming Pear’s “Flood” plugin, which actually is a great plugin for reflections. A roll of the random seed dice might have made a better effect though.
I’m stilll shocked that people take the time to leave messages like “these have nothing to do with design”.
It’s called INSPIRATION.
Any graphic designer worth their salt has a creative bug in them, and should have hobbies including photography. It’s all in the eye people… composition, framing etc.
Good times!
Elias
December 1st, 2008 9:13 ammmmm too much saturation, sharpen, contrast for my taste. Even if subject matter is interesting there’s too much post processing going on. Effects up to eleven FTL.
Ori
December 1st, 2008 9:31 amAmazing. Thanks!
petronella
December 1st, 2008 10:05 amstunning! love the castle!
André
December 1st, 2008 10:12 amI also made some studies with water reflections (but using body parts….I think the results are curious):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andre_graciotti/279562088/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andre_graciotti/279562090/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andre_graciotti/279562085/
V.
December 1st, 2008 11:37 am>Elumalai: The “photo” by Linda O’Dell was created digitally. The real reflection on the water would not skew proportions and the perspective would be slightly different.
kern.justin
December 1st, 2008 12:56 pmThanks to the eds for picking up my photo! To anyone who is curious I shot it with a Nikon D100 an old and nearly broken 14mm f/3.5 that I picked up on ebay some years ago. As with all the images of which I am proud, it is the product less of meticulous work and more of being the lucky one to walk by the cabin at the right time. “f/8 and be there” will hold true no matter whether post is in the dark room or the cpu!
Aiko
December 1st, 2008 2:06 pmVery nice work. Thou i have this feeling some of them are photoshoped, if there not photoshoped then its ashame as they feel photoshoped. Allot of these look like there not fully created by a camera. Anyways allot of them are really nice, so good work :)
neko
December 1st, 2008 2:16 pmas always…love the photograph posts. very inspirational!
jade
December 1st, 2008 2:23 pmVedd, thought you’d like the inside reflection at Christmas time here: http://www.wels.net/s3/uploaded/76992/treeview.jpg
AO
December 1st, 2008 3:30 pmYou missed one guy’s worked… He was featured in Time magazine some years back for his mostly reflective photography on the beaches of Karachi. See his work on flickr.
Nico
December 1st, 2008 7:05 pmProbably the greatest shot ever at:
http://www.lucnix.be/main.php?g2_itemId=35972
tom
December 2nd, 2008 6:24 amI love the focus points. It is amazing to see itmes in the forground blurry with a focus point through water or similar items. Also reflective framing is also fantastic. Always love eye candy.
Mark Folgo
December 2nd, 2008 8:39 amThis photographer has very good reflections photos
http://www.filipebianchi.com
.SCHL
December 2nd, 2008 9:33 amYou’ve gotta see the work of Gilad Benari, he’s awesome using reflections. http://gilad.deviantart.com/gallery
Awesome list nonetheless.
.SCHL
Helen Bradley
December 2nd, 2008 9:54 amWhat an inspiring collection of reflections.
I captured some wonderful reflections in Rome and Venice recently, not only in canals and puddles, but also on cars and in windows which made for some great results.
Check them out here: Projectwoman.com
ag
December 2nd, 2008 2:36 pm“Hehe…yes the Gecko is a digital reflection. Most likely done with Flaming Pear’s “Flood” plugin, which actually is a great plugin for reflections.”
not only that one, several others as well (except for the gecko, there are 3 other really evident ones). it’s a shame, as the real ones in this bunch are truly stunning. the first one reminds me of The Shining ;)
HErve
December 2nd, 2008 3:30 pmCan t beleive how much these are photoshoped!!
Do we talk about photography or virtual imagery!???
Sorry, looks like crap
Carabear
December 2nd, 2008 4:27 pmBeautiful photos! Thank you for sharing :)
Adam Alyan
December 3rd, 2008 2:36 amSome of them are made using HDR techniques but not overdone.
Marina Popova
December 3rd, 2008 7:43 amVery cool!!! And what about this…
http://photo-forum.net/en/index.php?APP_ACTION=USER_IMAGES&USER_ID=16753
?
Megapixelphotos
December 3rd, 2008 11:36 amhttp://www.megapixelphotos.com/index.php?showimage=327 <– Another cloud gate example.
Also hard to believe a US monument in the reflecting pool wasnt there but I suppose there are a lot of those..
Yuuzaa
December 3rd, 2008 6:31 pmgreat ! ..thank’s for sharing.
Anto
December 3rd, 2008 7:02 pmStunning pictures!
I have taken a reflection picture of my friend. It is a different style, where a sunset reflects on his glasses. Tell me what you think!
http://www.antoyoussef.com/2008/09/antoine-watching-the-sunset-salar-de-atacama/
angeloff
December 4th, 2008 1:55 amIncredible. Smashing Collection as usual
Visit My ArtWord on my blog
Angeloff
szenen
December 4th, 2008 5:38 amwhats so stunning? how easy it is to use photoshop?
Peter
December 4th, 2008 6:40 amGreat Pictures, Thanks!
Here are some more great reflection-pictures i found recently. The second one is my absolute favorite.
Picture Nr 1
Picutre Nr 2
Picture Nr 3
Jon
December 4th, 2008 9:13 amwheres the reflecto-porn
Artturi Mäntysaari
December 4th, 2008 9:26 amHere is one of my photos with reflection: http://www.harhakuva.org/view/117609
(sorry finnish language)
p33nicorn on dA
December 4th, 2008 2:55 pmOne of my favourite pictures I’ve ever taken is a reflection pic, here.
A lot of them were stunning, some.. not so much.
Wayfaring Wanderer
December 5th, 2008 7:41 amI really liked that feather shot, and the last one, too. Who can beat an awesome reflection mixed with some sunset silhouettes…..dream photo!
“But creativity and good-quality photos depend on the photographer being able to see things differently, rather than seeing only one part of a larger whole.” AMEN TO THAT!!!!!!
jimmy
December 5th, 2008 11:01 amif all these werent photoshoped i would like them. but the computer is taking away form the true beauty of life, i stick to film and that’s what i prefer. the real deal.
zemichael TY
December 8th, 2008 5:50 amthanks, it’s a real inspiration!!!! lovely pieces of work …this things i’m looking at …wow
Anon
December 8th, 2008 4:45 pmToo bad a lot of these are photoshopped.
These are some good reflective pictures.
http://robinsoulier.com/
what's up with dolphins?
December 9th, 2008 12:48 amDolphins aren’t that great . . .
That’s right, I said it. Dolphins. Not that smart. Do you think a dolphin could take a picture?
sanjay raikar
December 18th, 2008 3:00 ambeautiful photographs, fantastic locations, treat for the eye, love it.
Psalms
December 19th, 2008 12:56 pmi luv it!!!
i wish i can go 2 those places!
stringer
December 19th, 2008 8:10 pmevery one of them photoshopped within an inch of their lives
PANO
December 22nd, 2008 6:50 pm赞！how beautiful
Christopher L Moore
January 1st, 2009 5:56 pmSeveral of those were actually better examples of Refraction not Reflection (Looking through a clear droplet http://www.flickr.com/photos/12708811@N07/2633069893/ or glass of water http://www.flickr.com/photos/merwells/464167469/) It is otherwise a nice collection.
Cpt
January 4th, 2009 7:54 amMost of the shots are good ones, but some are a bit oversaturated and artificial amateur pictures, not really suitable for demonstration in a high class place like this one – in my opinion.
quelen
January 19th, 2009 8:26 ammuito lindas as imagens
sJ
January 19th, 2009 1:05 pmReflections really amplify the beauty of a photograph… Very nice job here; thank you for sharing.
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jithesh
January 23rd, 2009 3:57 amvery beautiful pictures ” great” thanks
lorne
February 7th, 2009 1:22 pmNice. Perhaps a little heavy on the saturation and/or dynamic range ‘cranks’ in photo shop, but nice example of reflections none the less.
baha'aldeen
February 16th, 2009 5:22 amfantastic work,the best one is the 1st one.
nikki
February 17th, 2009 2:46 pmsoooo pretty!
Liz Gregory
February 27th, 2009 6:01 amGlorious, gorgeous and great! Loved looking at all these beautiful images – inspirational, thank you :)
mun imnyeo
March 2nd, 2009 2:47 pmbeatiful pictures!!
thanks for sharing.
Gabrielle
March 11th, 2009 12:32 pmSo I was wondering about settings on a manual non digital camera?
Shrikant Kelkar
April 13th, 2009 11:57 pmSome pictures are really beautiful.
Sohni mutiar
June 21st, 2009 2:04 pmamazing and cool picsssssss !!!!!!!!!
aussie
August 2nd, 2009 12:55 amnot top 50 photos here.. but top 50 photoshop examples.
yes, the final picture is beautiful.. but its not REAL photo anymore, if all visual effects, colors and mirrors was changed or modified by some image redactor.
sad.
Adam Mutum
October 7th, 2009 2:08 amAll I can say is Wow! Great photographs.
jason Gambhir
October 15th, 2009 11:33 pmThe photographs here are sadly not quite there inter,s of quality or content. They are poor cases of bad pj photography.
samantha
November 9th, 2009 2:05 pmthey started off good but then i realized that some of these pictures where PHOTOSHOPED ! It upset me cause i believed the pictures where so magical when indeed it was not even taken that way.
rosemary pasillas
December 15th, 2009 3:22 pmit was gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
kirpi
February 14th, 2010 4:35 pmI am so convinced that reflections can play a key role in composition that I drafted a page with my thoughts and suggestions along with a selection of good and useful pictures.
Yet I do not understand why a lot of people insist on creating fake reflections by photoshopping flat and poor images: the true fun is to look for genuine reflections in the real world around us! :-)
Deja
October 16th, 2010 1:10 pmHow are reflective pictures made? The ones where they show one picture and another different picture when you look at them at different angles.
jameel
October 30th, 2010 1:52 amamazing photos.
Nicole Patchyfer
November 10th, 2010 8:04 amYAYYY! =) <3