About the Image(s)
Description: This shot was taken during a walk in downtown Hartford. We had just come out of a museum into a courtyard surrounded by tall buildings which were all reflecting various things. I noticed this particular building reflecting the cupola of the building we had just come out of, and because of the combination of light, camera angle, and relative position of the reflected building to the reflecting surface the result was a bizarrely twisted reflection.
Intent: To capture how twisted and distorted the reflected image is, as opposed to most reflected building photos which are trying to capture a sharp and accurate reflection.
Edit: Out of camera the shot was a bit washed out because of the bright sun, so I had to play with exposure and brightness to compensate. Editing required 6 or 7 different masks to isolate parts of the image: the overall image, the reflected beige building, the surface of the reflecting building, and then I did a mask to isolate the black grid of bars and a separate one to isolate the blue sky reflected in the windows. I then played with saturation, brightness, and used the Color Editor in Capture One to isolate the blue in the windows and the beige color of the reflected building, all with the objective of getting the reflected building to pop a bit from its background. I did a slight crop to fill the frame with the distorted building.
Tech details: Camera: Sony A7RiiiA, Lens: Sony FE 24-105mm F4 G zoom. Focal length: 105 mm. ISO: 250; f/5 at 1/400 sec. Hand held. Editing software: Capture One 23.
Joseph J Zaia
(Group 22)Rick, your image caught my eye, because I have done reflections like this and water reflections as well for over 55 years. I sense excitement in you over this image and I am excited for you, so, I hope you do not mind if I share. If this is near you, you can have lots of fun under different light conditions and different seasons and different angles. Water reflections, and especially in the Fall, are even more fun, because of the motion in the water, no two are alike. For water reflections and for sharpness sake, use a tripod and no less than 125th of a second, hand held much faster. Use a polarizing filter, it will enhans the tones. You did very well with this, but it looks to me that the tones of the reflection and the background are too even. I suggest that you make the reflection stand out more by brightening it and toning down the background a bit. Posted: 07/09/2025 19:48:43
Rick Taft
Joseph, Thanks for the kind words...yes, taking shots of reflections are lots of fun. I also take a lot of reflection shots on water, and I almost always use a tripod for those. As for this shot, it was taken in an urban setting where a tripod was not an option. I felt the 1/400 shutter combined with the steady-shot compensation that Sony built into this camera and lens would take care of minor motion issues...as far as I can tell they did. It looks quite sharp throughout to me...the only softness in the image being caused by the distorting effect the glass of the building had on the reflection. As for the background, that is really a wall of windows reflecting a blue sky, and each one has slightly different reflective properties. That results in a few different tones (reds, greens) in a few of the windows, so the blue is not at all uniform. As for a polarizer, I frequently use that (along with an ND filter) when shooting water reflections, but I tend not to think of it with reflections on glass like this. Good thought for me to keep in mind for next time. Posted: 07/13/2025 02:03:02
Lori Azevedo
What a fun photo. The straightforward lines of the building and the reflection of the other is striking. My only comment of your photo would be to see how it would look to straighten the lines of the windows on the building justification. It's up to you but nice capture. Posted: 07/10/2025 19:32:23
Rick Taft
Lori,
Thanks for the kind words. You make an interesting observation about perspective distortion which is inevitable in a shot like this (shooting from the ground looking up). I actually did play around a bit with Capture One's excellent Keystone tool, but found it impossible to straighten both the vertical and horizontal lines, or even just all of the vertical lines from one side of the image to the other without badly warping the reflected image. I chose to focus mostly on the vertical lines in the building in the center of the image, figuring they were the most important visually. Thanks for the observation. Posted: 07/13/2025 02:14:37
Linnea Matthiesen
You have a really great eye to notice this image and capture it. Nicely done! Posted: 07/12/2025 03:18:19
Rick Taft
Thanks for the kind words, Linnea. Posted: 07/13/2025 02:15:31
Pauline Jaffe
This is such an interesting image and I quite enjoy the intregue of the reflection. The colors have lovely shades and the reflection itself is quite sharp. I can see the lines and curves within the cupola. Nicely done. Posted: 07/14/2025 19:50:44
Alec Chester
Rick, Like you I love reflections and, if I have a chance and a camera, will always take a shot. This one is special and so full of color and intrigue. I like that it's quite abstract. The jagged lines and cut out spaces of the building that's being reflected add interest. I tried doing some more post on it, but no changes were any improvement at all. Nice work! Posted: 07/21/2025 19:33:18
Carol Heffernan
Rick, I think this is a super interesting image and like that it was just something you saw and shot. Your editing is great and the reflection just makes you look and wonder what it is, making it even more interesting. I think the distortion is the story, and I do like the background building perspective distortion and doubt straightening it would have made the shot better. Posted: 07/28/2025 20:33:01
