A Year Ago on Boost Your Photography

Consider joining in the Boost Your Photography: 52 Weeks Challenge! Our focus for July is photography basics. Join the Google+ Community to share your weekly photographs and receive feedback. New members are always welcome!

2013:

• Troubleshooting Exposure: how to fix common exposure problems. This highly popular post is a follow up to All about Exposure and provides a detailed how to for using strategies like AE Lock, recomposing, and bracketing to solve all of your exposure issues. Get the picture right the first time, in-camera!

• Travel Photography: Make a Shot List. Traveling at all this summer? Be sure that you come home with all of the shots that you want - find out why and how to make a shot list and get all of the photographs that you are after.

• Postcards from Rainier. A photo-walk through of a recent trip to Mount Rainier National Park, including some thoughts about how to make the best of the photography situations that you encounter when traveling.

• Make the Shot: Spoon Reflection Photography. Have a camera? Have a spoon? Have a great time getting some creative shots using spoon reflections. This how to posts gives you all the tips you need to know to get great shots like the one above.

Don't Miss a Single Post from Boost Your Photography

Follow along on Facebook

Follow along on Google+

Follow along on Twitter

Follow along on Pinterest

Follow along on Bloglovin'

Or, better yet, receive updates daily or weekly via email. Sign up below!

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Email Address *

How would you like to receive updates? *

• Send updates the day they are posted (2-3 per week)
• Send updates just once a week

A Year Ago on Boost Your Photography

2013:

• All about Exposure. The second post in our occasional series aimed at beginners covers all about exposure, including correct, creative, and equivalent exposures. The second-half of the article offers suggestions about how to perfect your exposure when out shooting.

• Improve Your Photography: be accountable. This post contains a mixture of encouragement and specific suggestions for how to improve your photography through accountability. Interested in joining an online community to be accountable? Join the Boost Your Photography 52 Weeks Challenge!

• Puddle Reflection Photography: how to. Make the most out of a recent rain storm - try your hand at puddle reflection photography! This technique works best with point-and-shoot cameras, and you can get amazing pictures out of even small puddles (like the gutter above).

• Why and How to Tag Your Photographs. Never lose track of another photograph - find out why and how to tag your photographs. Tags are an incredibly useful tool, and if you do yet have a method for tagging your photographs, you will definitely want to give this one a read.

Don't Miss a Single Post from Boost Your Photography

Follow along on Facebook

Follow along on Google+

Follow along on Twitter

Follow along on Pinterest

Follow along on Bloglovin'

Or, better yet, receive updates daily or weekly via email. Sign up below!

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required

Email Address *

How would you like to receive updates? *

• Send updates the day they are posted (2-3 per week)
• Send updates just once a week

Flipped Reflections

I don't know about you, but we have been having a ton of rain lately. Looking for a creative take on all that rain? Try a flipped reflection!

Flipped Reflections

A flipped reflection is created by photographing a reflection in the water. These types of shots work best when you focus your composition around only the reflection, but you can also include small amounts of context, such as part of the surrounding bank or shore. You do not want to include much (or any) of the actual scene being reflected. The final step is to rotate the final photograph, generally 180 degrees around, so that the reflection appears to be right-side-up.

These types of shots work best when you can simplify the composition and zero in on just the reflection. Eliminate unnecessary clutter and beware of other 'give aways' that will immediately cue the viewer in to the flip.

Comparing the two images above, you can see that the fallen leaves in the upper version are an immediate give away that the photograph has been flipped. For the lower version, I changed where I was standing slightly and zoomed in to cut out the leaves and eliminate most of the real scene. Now it takes your brain an extra minute to process the ripples in the trees.

It is this movement and ripples in the water that gives these types of shots a painterly look. You should also think about trying both horizontal and vertical compositions. Keep your eye out for this type of shots - you might be surprised at the fun you can have!

Looking for another great rain-related photography idea? Click to read about How to Create Incredible Puddle Reflections. Have a favorite flipped reflection? Share a link in the comments below!