Taking photos thru glass/

[mn shutterbug]

I've seen a number of good photos taken thru windows and glass doors. Does it make a difference if it's single pane or double pane? Are you better off putting the lens right up against the glass? If so, is it even beneficial to remove the lens hood to get closer to the glass?

[mjs1973]

If I were to try to take a serious shot through glass, I would leave the hood on, and press it right up against the glass. This will block any reflections. I would also make sure there aren't any lights on behind me that could cause reflections as well. Oh, and make sure the glass is clean too.

If you listen to podcasts at all, Martin Bailey just did a show on this very subject

[mn shutterbug]

If you listen to podcasts at all, Martin Bailey just did a show on this very subject

I just listened to my first podcast. Bailey pretty much said the same things as you did. Thanks for the tips. I'll have to give it a shot someday.

[mjs1973]

Shooting through glass is one of the reason I bought a rubber lens hood for my 50mm f/1.8. I want to use that lens the next time I go to an aquarium and have to shoot through the glass.

[Dylan8i]

ill even use my hand as an aditional lense hood sometimes, like if the glass isn't flat or if im shooting at an angle to a flat pane. It also steadys the camera more.

not sure about single or double pane though, if i want the shot i just shoot through the glass.

[another view]

I'd put a rubber lens hood right on the glass, but not a hard plastic or metal one - you could get some vibration. As long as a double-pane window is really clear (good seal between the panes, no haze from condensation that may have formed at one time) then it should be fine.

If you're shooting a night time cityscape from a hotel room (done this several times!), you can get pretty decent results assuming you have a good view, but I have picked up a couple of tricks. First, turn off all lights in the room (TV included). Second, if you have the camera on a tripod and happen to have a dark sweater, blanket etc then use it to wrap around a rigid lens hood, touching the glass. The point is that if the glass is back-lit from any interior light then it will have a good chance of causing flare or at least lowering contrast.

Here's one during the day so the backlight wasn't much of a problem, but I still probably took the precautions.

[WsW-WYATT-EARP]

When I took a workshop with Don Gale he said the same thing that AV said - use a black sheet or dark sweater and tape it to the glass and drap it over your camera lens or the whole camera then you eliminate reflection / also try to shoot at an angle to the glass / and if you need to use a flash do it off camera and hold it up and away from your camera

[jgredline]

Well, my technique is a li a little different. Take a hundred or so pics and 2-3 are bound to be good. ..But seriously I have found that using a rubber hood and no flash along with cranking up the ISO works well for me. Atleast when taking pictures of fish (aquariums) because those places are usually really dark.