Mirror, mirror on the wall…it seems you have better uses after all. Most notably I can use a mirror as a substitute backdrop when an unobstructed vista is not available for toy photography.

I live in an older suburb where the houses are just close enough to be annoying for toy photography. Where ever I set up a scene there is a fence, a house or a car in the background. Nowhere can I capture the true natural beauty of bokeh created by sun shining through foliage. Recently I saw a neat trick that uses a mirror as a backdrop to capture either a natural bokeh or the sky. As soon as I saw the behind the scenes image, I knew I had to try this technique.

If you haven’t heard Brett and I are giving away a complete set of UniKitty blind bag mini figures. I thought I would take my favorite subject, Unikitty, out for a spin, to see if this mirror trick was any good.

What You Need

This is an inexpensive prop to create. All you need is a piece of mirror and a frame to put it in. I tried this with only a mirror with no protective edge and I ended up chipping my glass immediately. I recommend you spend a few extra dollars and purchase a cheap frame to protect your glass. It will also make your ‘background’ easier to transport. While this technique is great for around the house, or apartment, I wouldn’t recommend traveling long distances carting around a piece of mirror.

First Test

My first attempt was under my favorite Japanese maple in my front yard. I placed Unikitty and her entourage in front of the mirror and snapped away. I liked the results. My only concerns were around the angle of the mirror and how much clarity I wanted in my bokeh. I played with the aperture and ended up photographing this image at f 4.5; a nice middle ground.

The set-up

The Results: Unikitty and her entourage.

Second Test

I wondered what would happen if you dangled items in front of the mirror? Could you capture an interesting reflection that could be integrated into the story? What would happen if you placed a ‘sun’ in front of the mirror to simulate the sun in the sky? I like to photograph the sun, but find it devolves into a large bright hole of nothing in a photo. I thought I would substitute a LEGO sun and see if it was anymore successful.

The set-up.

The results.

I kind of like the results of the sun test. I think I might need to play with this idea a little more and set up my scene with more care to really tell if this is worth pursuing. But for now, it is an intriguing path of exploration.

Third Test

Because Unikitty is associated with rainbows, spirals, confetti and all manor of items bright and colorful I wondered what it would be like to photograph her with a rainbow. Now I could create a rainbow in photoshop, but what happens if you add one directly to the mirror?

The set-up.

 

The results

Again this was a rather hasty set up, but the results were promising. I can see painting the rainbow with more care; maybe even adding another layer using a different transparent material. But for a quick photo, I’m pretty happy with the results.

Conclusion

I think using a mirror to create an interesting background is certainly worth exploring. My favorite of the three methods was the first attempt. But I can see trying this method with a more dramatic sky or even possibly a sunrise. There is plenty of times when im photographing into the sunrise (or sunset) when the sun is behind me. Usually I resort to bounce card or a small portable light to illuminate my figure. But why not flip the equation and get both the light on the figure AND the sunset?

For now I will be putting option number one into regular use. There are plenty of times when I need to grab a quick photo and the location isn’t that critical, but a creamy bokeh background would be nice.

The mirror technique was incredibly handy for this quick photo of a boy and his dragon.

Have you ever used this technique or anything similar? If so, how did it work for you?

~ Shelly

If you would like to win a complete set of the Unikitty series of blind bags, join our G+ Community and participate in this months theme challenge: One. 

I did not invent this mirror trick, I saw it on @Cruelcodex’s IG feed. It seems he was inspired by a post by @Passage2alderaan. The free sharing of information is what makes this community so much fun, we all have the opportunity to learn from each other. Thank you Anthony and Tony for sharing your wisdom and creativity!