Rotated Reflections

The large border on this triptych I feel is an unfortunate waste of valuable real-estate in an online world. Most images these days are consumed on either a phone or a tablet, and that gives us a limited amount of pixels to display our work. So when we fill it with large borders we end up making our images even smaller, and less impactful. Rant over, these photos are an exceptionally good example of the power of a good rotated reflection image. We really get that sense of looking into another ethereal, almost ghost world, just out of reach. I just wish I could have seen them as large as possible.

There's a beautiful simplicity in this photo, with great use of negative space and minimalism. The near perfect reflection means that it's only when we realise the buoys are somehow in the wrong place - as though they are hanging in mid air - that we understand the image is inverted. A small point about the addition of a border. I understand it when you are making a print, but for an online submission, where we are already restricted by the number of pixels available to us, it feels like a pointless waste of them. Better to make your photo as large as you can for the screen, rather than making it smaller than it has to be by having a border.

The symmetry/not quite symmetry is perfect on this image. It takes us a moment to realise what it is we're looking at, and then makes us smile. Part of what helps is the ripples circling out look as though they haven't been inverted, and that delays the punchline for a fraction of a second longer.

This winning image encapsulated everything I was hoping for in this rotated reflections challenge. My only criticism is the verticals are not quite vertical - just a slight rotation of about 0.5 degrees clockwise would have prevented this photo looking tilted. That aside, I love the sense of depth created by the poles moving into the distance, and the strong diagonal confidently pushing the eye towards the walking figure and deeper into the photo. This is one of those images where the reflection is better than the "original" as the man becomes isolated against the sky and the building and people behind him are no longer distracting out attention. I did try rotating this image, but it definitely works better this way up - which is the true purpose of this challenge.

This one really took me a few moments to work out what was going on! Almost every other submitted image was from a water reflection below the subject. But this glass reflection on the ceiling makes it look as though we are peering down on one set of passengers, while the others are hanging upside down in their seats! A great use of the rotated reflection technique!

This is a great example of seeing a different world in the reflection than "reality". Instead of the street scene with people, our attention is drawn to the glass tower building, and there are no people in the reflection. It gives us an off-kilter feeling of looking into an alternative universe.

To be honest, i was expecting to see more rotated car reflections in puddles, but in the end there were very few. However, this one would have been a stand-out submission no matter how many others there might have been. Photographing from ground level is always a good option for capturing a sports car, but by using the reflection it allows the viewer to get below ground level! It's a great way to use the rotated reflection effectively.