Simple trick for easily capturing overhead photographs

Overhead compositions can make for interesting images. But getting your gear into position for capturing an overhead shot is anything but convenient.

To simplify the process, a Lynda.com video details a clever trick that lets you capture overhead shots with the ease of shooting as you normally do.

The four minute video is directed towards motion picture capture, but the principles apply to still images as well. In it, Anthony Q. Artis explains how a simple mirror, angled at roughly 45-degrees over the subject matter, keeps the camera in your hand or mounted on a tripod while still capturing that overhead look.

Naturally, it will take some tweaking until you can get everything lined up correctly, but once set up, you’re free to go about your shooting, without having to worry about climbing up a step-ladder or onto a table to change your cameras settings.

The video suggests using high-quality plastic mirrors over glass ones, as they’re much lighter and, therefore, less dangerous. But we’d recommend sticking with glass mirrors for quality, even if they need a slightly more robust mounting platform.

The resulting images will be mirrored when captured, but a simple ‘flip’ in Photoshop can correct for any backwards images and text.

This video comes from Lynda.com’s YouTube Channel.

(via ISO 1200)