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Photographing through glass/plastic

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tim_boerner

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I've got a question that maybe someone here has an answer for. When trying to take a picture through a plate of glass or plastic (e.g. at a zoo, museum, etc), is there any particular technique/filter/something that can reduce or remove the reflections that always show up? If you could have better control of the lighting it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but failiing that... any suggestions?

I've been working on this one for a while and haven't had much luck... the best thing I've found so far is to get a really tight DOF and blur out as many of the reflections as possible.

Thanks,
Tim
 
And remember to set ISO to 1600.



I forgot to set the ISO to 1600 so I would have gotten much better picts this past Fri when I went to the Shedd Aquarium.

Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/leebase/shedd

I shot with my 2.8 Tamron, I should have brought the 50mm f1.8

Lee
tim_boerner said:
I've got a question that maybe someone here has an answer for.
When trying to take a picture through a plate of glass or plastic
(e.g. at a zoo, museum, etc), is there any particular
technique/filter/something that can reduce or remove the
reflections that always show up? If you could have better control
of the lighting it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but failiing
that... any suggestions?

I've been working on this one for a while and haven't had much
luck... the best thing I've found so far is to get a really tight
DOF and blur out as many of the reflections as possible.

Thanks,
Tim
Click to expand...
 
tim_boerner said:
I've got a question that maybe someone here has an answer for.
When trying to take a picture through a plate of glass or plastic
(e.g. at a zoo, museum, etc), is there any particular
technique/filter/something that can reduce or remove the
reflections that always show up? If you could have better control
of the lighting it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but failiing
that... any suggestions?
Click to expand...
What you need is a polarising filter, which is rotated in front of the lens until you obtain minimum reflection point. If it is for the 300D, you will need a circular polariser rather than linear (this refers to type of filter, not the shape).

Ken C
--

Long live monochrome. What would Ansel Adams have produced with the 300D (or Rebel if you like).
 
Lee,

Nice shot of the fish. I've tried and had some mixed results with aquarium pictures, too. I hope to give it another go sometime in the near future. :)

Do you suggest the ISO 1600 because of the typical low lighting levels found in museums or aquariums, or for other reasons? Wouldn't a tripod and a lower ISO setting work even better (even if the shutter speed gets up into the 2-5 second range)?

I'd certainly never use flash. I made that mistake when I first got into photography and don't think I've made it since! :)

Thanks,
Tim
LeeBase said:


I forgot to set the ISO to 1600 so I would have gotten much better
picts this past Fri when I went to the Shedd Aquarium.

Gallery: http://www.pbase.com/leebase/shedd

I shot with my 2.8 Tamron, I should have brought the 50mm f1.8

Lee
tim_boerner said:
I've got a question that maybe someone here has an answer for.
When trying to take a picture through a plate of glass or plastic
(e.g. at a zoo, museum, etc), is there any particular
technique/filter/something that can reduce or remove the
reflections that always show up? If you could have better control
of the lighting it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but failiing
that... any suggestions?

I've been working on this one for a while and haven't had much
luck... the best thing I've found so far is to get a really tight
DOF and blur out as many of the reflections as possible.

Thanks,
Tim
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Polarising filter as said but also try putting a hood on your lens anf holding it right up against the glass. Cuts out all the light that causes reflections. Rubber hood probably better for this.
 
Ken,

I didn't think of the polarizing filter. I do have one, and will give it a shot in the next few days. What percentage of the reflections do you think it would reduce? Or does that depend on the quality/polish of the glass/plastic plate I'm taking the picture through?

Thanks,
Tim
Ken Clifford said:
tim_boerner said:
I've got a question that maybe someone here has an answer for.
When trying to take a picture through a plate of glass or plastic
(e.g. at a zoo, museum, etc), is there any particular
technique/filter/something that can reduce or remove the
reflections that always show up? If you could have better control
of the lighting it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but failiing
that... any suggestions?
Click to expand...
What you need is a polarising filter, which is rotated in front of
the lens until you obtain minimum reflection point. If it is for
the 300D, you will need a circular polariser rather than linear
(this refers to type of filter, not the shape).

Ken C
--
Long live monochrome. What would Ansel Adams have produced with the
300D (or Rebel if you like).
Click to expand...
 
tim_boerner said:
Nice shot of the fish.
Click to expand...
I did manage to get some good pictures...I just lament the ones I could have gotten.


tim_boerner said:
Do you suggest the ISO 1600 because of the typical low lighting
levels found in museums or aquariums, or for other reasons?
Click to expand...
Low lighting. It's hard to get fast shutter speed. With Noise Ninja I'm very comfortable shooting at high ISO's
tim_boerner said:
Wouldn't a tripod and a lower ISO setting work even better (even if
the shutter speed gets up into the 2-5 second range)?
Click to expand...
Yes and no. First -- I doubt you'd be able to set up a tripod in a public aquarium. If you could (or use a monopod) it would help you take pictures of non-moving things like coral reefs.

But for fish, long exposures even if held steady via IS or a tripod, will result in blurred images because the fist are moving.

Lee
 
I'd still prefer to not use flash. But certainly you've shown that you can take flash shots without the flash being in the picture.

I'm not a big fan of the look of flash photography.

Lee
RATPhoto said:
Flash is fine. You just can't use it square onto the glass. Also,
you can reduce reflections with a polorizer.

Here are two flash shots making my point.

http://www.pbase.com/image/26546581



http://www.pbase.com/image/26600336



--
If you are a new user chances are good your question is answered in
the FAQ at:
http://www.marius.org/eos300dfaq.php

For a gallery of my photographs, see:
http://www.pbase.com/ratphoto

See my profile for my equipment
Click to expand...
 
Lee,

I definitely agree with you on the moving fish. Mucho shutter speed needed for those little (and sometimes big) guys. I probably won't be hitting up another aquarium until I get back home (Florida). The one here (London) isn't all that great. I took some pics there and none of them really stuck out at me as being particularly good. Maybe I should go have another look.

My biggest current frustration is in museums, where there are hoards of people and lights everywhere. I count myself lucky when I find a nice, dimly lit exhibit.

I'm mostly using a 28-135mm USM IS lens, which I've been quite happy with. The IS helps when I can't use a tripod, and as you said, the Noise Ninja (great name, btw!) works quite well at a high ISO. :)

Tim
LeeBase said:
LeeBase said:
Nice shot of the fish.
Click to expand...
I did manage to get some good pictures...I just lament the ones I
could have gotten.


LeeBase said:
Do you suggest the ISO 1600 because of the typical low lighting
levels found in museums or aquariums, or for other reasons?
Click to expand...
Low lighting. It's hard to get fast shutter speed. With Noise
Ninja I'm very comfortable shooting at high ISO's
LeeBase said:
Wouldn't a tripod and a lower ISO setting work even better (even if
the shutter speed gets up into the 2-5 second range)?
Click to expand...
Yes and no. First -- I doubt you'd be able to set up a tripod in a
public aquarium. If you could (or use a monopod) it would help you
take pictures of non-moving things like coral reefs.

But for fish, long exposures even if held steady via IS or a
tripod, will result in blurred images because the fist are moving.

Lee
Click to expand...
 
tim_boerner said:
My biggest current frustration is in museums, where there are
hoards of people and lights everywhere. I count myself lucky when
I find a nice, dimly lit exhibit.

I'm mostly using a 28-135mm USM IS lens, which I've been quite
happy with. The IS helps when I can't use a tripod, and as you
said, the Noise Ninja (great name, btw!) works quite well at a high
ISO. :)
Click to expand...
That's certainly a place where IS will help.

Lee
 
I just used a rubber lens hood pressed up against the glass for this shot. It's a simple technique, but I think it does a good job of getting rid of the reflections. Image quality does suffer, I think, because of how thick the glass is. I also had a cheap UV filter on the lens.

75-300 III non-IS @ 135mm


tim_boerner said:
I've got a question that maybe someone here has an answer for.
When trying to take a picture through a plate of glass or plastic
(e.g. at a zoo, museum, etc), is there any particular
technique/filter/something that can reduce or remove the
reflections that always show up? If you could have better control
of the lighting it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but failiing
that... any suggestions?

I've been working on this one for a while and haven't had much
luck... the best thing I've found so far is to get a really tight
DOF and blur out as many of the reflections as possible.

Thanks,
Tim
Click to expand...
--
http://www.pbase.com/annellyse
 
tim_boerner said:
Ken,

I didn't think of the polarizing filter. I do have one, and will
give it a shot in the next few days. What percentage of the
reflections do you think it would reduce? Or does that depend on
the quality/polish of the glass/plastic plate I'm taking the
picture through?
Click to expand...
Almost impossible to quantify. As you suggest it is partly dependant on condition & cleanliness of glass, also angles of light etc. Does not always eradicate all reflections but usually helps.

Ken C

Long live monochrome. What would Ansel Adams have produced with the 300D (or Rebel if you like).
 
Annellyse said:
75-300 III non-IS @ 135mm


tim_boerner said:
I've got a question that maybe someone here has an answer for.
When trying to take a picture through a plate of glass or plastic
(e.g. at a zoo, museum, etc), is there any particular
technique/filter/something that can reduce or remove the
reflections that always show up? If you could have better control
of the lighting it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but failiing
that... any suggestions?

I've been working on this one for a while and haven't had much
luck... the best thing I've found so far is to get a really tight
DOF and blur out as many of the reflections as possible.

Thanks,
Tim
Click to expand...
--
http://www.pbase.com/annellyse
Click to expand...
 
tim_boerner said:
I've got a question that maybe someone here has an answer for.
When trying to take a picture through a plate of glass or plastic
(e.g. at a zoo, museum, etc), is there any particular
technique/filter/something that can reduce or remove the
reflections that always show up? If you could have better control
of the lighting it wouldn't be so much of a problem, but failiing
that... any suggestions?

I've been working on this one for a while and haven't had much
luck... the best thing I've found so far is to get a really tight
DOF and blur out as many of the reflections as possible.

Thanks,
Tim
Click to expand...
--

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://w3.enternet.hu/paczel

 
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