Photos taken through glass

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Photos taken through glass

Postby Rosemary » Wed Dec 31, 2008 8:00 pm

I go cruising quite a bit and the tours are usually taken using a bus with tinted windows. Does anyone have a solution or work around as the tinted glass usually either reflects even though the falsh is "off" or the picture is dark. I use a Cannon PowerShot SD850 1s --point, hope and shoot!

Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated,

Rosemary

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby LEE7 » Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:32 am

Hi.

People will probably have a better idea, but may I suggest a polarising lens to screw on the front, not a filter in a holder.
I use circular polarisers with video, for water reflections.

You would probably have to alter pictures in Your graphics program to correct colour casts etc.


Regards.


Peter.

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby gpsmikey » Thu Jan 01, 2009 5:41 am

Wear dark clothing to minimize reflections from what you are wearing. Hold the camera as close as possible to the glass WITHOUT touching the glass (if you touch, you pick up the vibrations from the vehicle). I would avoid a polarizer in general - pre-stressed (tempered) glass tends to give some really weird patterns when viewed through a polarizer (not always, but I have seen lots of "splotches" before that were not visible without polarizers). You could actually build a soft black cloth "hood" you could hold up against the window that covers the camera to help exclude reflections from the inside of the windows.

I'm not sure why the pictures are dark since the auto-exposure should compensate for the tint to give the right exposure (unless it is seeing a reflection - a bright spot (from a reflection) will screw up the exposure). I have shot lots of pictures through glass with minimal problems if I make sure to watch the reflections. Shooting through glass (especially tinted) is certainly not ideal, but it sure beats "no picture" :D

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby Rosemary » Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:58 am

Mikey and Peter,

Thanks for your suggestions. I will give the "hood" idea a try. To think that we are off to S. America to see more snow!!!

Happy New Year to you both,

Rosemary

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby jdgouk » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:58 am

Rosemary,
If your camera supports it you could also try to increase the ISO setting. The larger the ISO ie 400 or higher, the better when shooting through the tinted glass. The downside is more digital noise on the image, but the higher ISO will also mean you will not require the flash as much. Indeed on my Canon 400D with the ISO cranked up to 1600 I can take great pictures even when inside a dimly lit church with NO flash.

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Jason.

p.s Better still if you see that must have shot - tell the driver to stop so you can get out of the coach :lol:

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby Rosemary » Thu Jan 01, 2009 1:34 pm

Thanks Jason,
I shall get "he who is supposed to know these things" to check out the ISO. On our last trip I would of needed Italian, Greek, Turkish and Egyption language skills to stop the bus. If you ever have the chance to travel the Amalfi Coast do so. It is a photographers dream. That is where I had all the problems with reflections etc.

Happy snapping in 2009

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby guarneri » Thu Jan 01, 2009 7:41 pm

Be sure your camera is focusing on the outside object you are taking a picture of and not on the glass or a spot on the glass. It will be more difficult if the bus is moving. I have taken a lot of pictures out the car window when the car was moving. The most successful ones I took out the front windshield.

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby owenrp » Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:19 pm

Rosemary I would go back & take them again!

The Amalfi Coast is such a wonderful photographic experience.
I managed to get some good shots through the bus window by keeping pretty close to the glass.
A collapsible rubber lens hood may allow you to actually touch the glass to reduce flare but avoid the vibration.
Raising the ISO will not necessarily change the resulting exposure of an image - you should look into using the exposure compensation option on the camera
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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby Rosemary » Thu Jan 01, 2009 9:55 pm

Thanks everyone,
I would love to get back to retake the photos! Those Lattari Mountains are huge and the wonder is how the Italians blasted tunnels through them to make roads. Next time I would like to be in something smaller than a 50 seater bus therefore able to take the photos at lib. I can dream!

Rosemary

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby VernonRobinson » Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:31 pm

Rosemary wrote:I go cruising quite a bit and the tours are usually taken using a bus with tinted windows. Does anyone have a solution or work around as the tinted glass usually either reflects even though the falsh is "off" or the picture is dark. I use a Cannon PowerShot SD850 1s --point, hope and shoot!

Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated,

Rosemary



Another tip would be to hold the camera lens at an angle. This should help cut down on the reflection. Also helps if the sun is coming in from behind you instead of the front. You could be getting some backlighting going on.

HTH,
-Vernon

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby Rosemary » Sat Jan 03, 2009 7:56 pm

Thanks everyone for all your tips and tricks. I shall try them all and hopefully no reflections will appear!! Don't suppose there will be many bus tours around the Antartic but we plan to see as much of Chile, Argentina and Uraguay as time allows.
Happy New Year everyone,
Rosemary

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby Tarafrost » Sun Jan 04, 2009 7:37 am

Another idea would be to bring a sledgehammer. ;-)

Or ask if the windows open before you book the tour.
....Andrzej (aka: the curmudgeon)

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby gpsmikey » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:03 am

You could always sit on top of the bus :lol:

Assuming the windows don't open (and they won't let you on with the sledge hammer), look for the seat with the cleanest window (pref. on the shady side if there is one). Autofocus LOVES to focus on dirt on the windows which leaves you with clear pictures of the dirty windows and blurred pictures of what was outside). Another reason to get close to the window (but not touch) - makes it harder for the autofocus to "see" the dirt (also cuts down on the reflections from inside the bus - which is also part of the reason I suggested dark clothing initially - nothing like the reflection of that brilliant flowered shirt you are wearing in your picture :lol: )

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby Tarafrost » Sun Jan 04, 2009 8:33 am

gpsmikey wrote:Autofocus LOVES to focus on dirt on the windows which leaves you with clear pictures of the dirty windows and blurred pictures of what was outside)


If you are shooting from inside a bus, then your lens is probably going to be focused at infinity anyway. Better bet would be to put the focus on manual, and control your depth of field with the aperture setting to ensure that you have enough depth to get your shots. That way you won't miss a shot because your lens is racking through it's full range of focus trying to lock in on auto.

Just don't forget to turn the autofocus back on when you get off the bus. ;-)
....Andrzej (aka: the curmudgeon)

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Re: Photos taken through glass

Postby DickK » Sun Jan 04, 2009 9:29 am

Tarafrost wrote:...Just don't forget to turn the autofocus back on when you get off the bus. ;-)


Been there, done that! :( Shot for a distressingly long time with noticing.

Dick
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