Reflection is light bouncing off a surface back toward the camera. Every visible thing in a photograph is recorded via reflected light (nothing else reaches the sensor unless the subject emits its own light), so in the broadest sense every photograph is a record of reflection. In a narrower photographic usage, reflection refers to the specific phenomenon of seeing a mirrored image of one subject within or on the surface of another: a building doubled in a puddle, a portrait seen in a window, a tree on the surface of a lake.
Reflections fall into two physical categories. Specular reflection occurs on smooth polished surfaces (water, glass, polished metal, lacquered finishes), producing a clear secondary image whose geometry follows the law of reflection: angle of incidence equals angle of reflection. Diffuse reflection occurs on rough or matte surfaces, scattering light in all directions and producing no recognizable secondary image, only an overall illumination of the surface. Most real-world surfaces sit somewhere between the two extremes: a glossy floor reflects ceiling lights as soft elongated streaks rather than sharp points.
Compositionally, reflections offer several established tools. Doubling, mirroring a subject in water to create vertical symmetry, is a staple of mountain-lake landscape photography. Layering, shooting through a reflective window so a foreground reflection overlays a background scene, is a defining technique of street photographers like Saul Leiter and Trent Parke. Distortion, using rippled water or curved metal, transforms recognizable subjects into abstractions. Each approach changes the composition from a straight record of a scene into a deliberate construction in which the camera sees something the eye alone might miss.
Reflections become problematic when they are unintended. Polished product surfaces show studio lights and the photographer’s own reflection. Eyeglasses reflect bright windows and modifiers. Picture glass scatters strobe back into the camera. Museum cases mirror gallery lighting. Solutions include changing the angle of view so the reflection falls outside the lens axis, using a polarizing filter to suppress polarized reflected light, draping the camera and photographer in black cloth, or controlling the lighting so the reflected sources are themselves dark. Product photographers build entire shoots around carefully managed reflections, often using large white scrims and flags to shape exactly what the surface mirrors back.
In post-processing, unwanted reflections can sometimes be cloned out or masked, but a polarizer’s ability to suppress them at the source is often the only reliable fix. In window photography, shooting straight on minimizes reflection of the photographer; shooting at a 30 to 45 degree angle from one side can reduce reflection of overhead lights but introduces the cameraman’s silhouette. Pressing the lens hood directly against glass eliminates reflections entirely if the geometry allows.
Working with rather than against reflections is often the more rewarding path. Wet streets after rain, polished glass towers, still ponds, and bathroom mirrors all become collaborators that double or transform the scene. Photographers like Vivian Maier and Lee Friedlander built bodies of work around self-portraits captured in passing reflections, demonstrating how a reflection can carry psychological weight that a direct portrait often cannot.