rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

You want inside to be darker than outside - that will eliminate most reflections. Beyond that, try to stand close to the window (*), and always just shoot as you always do. Window glass does tend to slightly reduce sharpness, but a slightly-not-sharp image is better than no-image.


(*) I've discovered that animals do sometimes notice me on the other side of the glass. I try to wear dark clothing, but sometimes I have to step a few feet away from the window so I'm no longer noticeable to them.

cambriaman Loc: Central CA Coast

If you can't put the lens on the glass, wear black clothing or drape your self in a black sheet, turn out all room lighting and proceed.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes, but... It's worth having a Depth of Field Calculator App on your smart phone, so you can use the aperture that will give you the depth of field you need, without diffraction.

Many older folks on UHH want to use f/stops a lot smaller than the *diffraction limiting aperture* for their lenses. Many in this age group (I'm included) grew up with size 120 film, full frame 35mm perforated film, and even 4x5 or 8x10 view cameras. There isn't much of a problem with f/32 on a 6x9 camera, but on APS-C it'll give you a really mushy image! Even f/16 is a couple of stops into the diffraction range on APS-C cameras, where sharpness suffers noticeably.

Remember, the lower the f/number, the WIDER the aperture (It's a fraction). The WIDER the aperture, the shallower the Depth of Field.

Most lenses perform at their sharpest around one to three f/stops smaller than their maximum aperture.

I've done a lot of work through glass, and know from experience that unless both sides of the window are reasonably clean, a small aperture will result in reduced sharpness, and you may even see fuzzy blobs from partially focused crud, if you're using a wide angle lens. Uncoated glass nearly always increases flare and decreases contrast. You can minimize that by keeping the glass in shadow, as you would your lens when using a lens hood.

Don's Leica Loc: Asheville, NC

I got a few shots by pressing my Leica Q lens hood against the window at Big Ivy Historical Park's old log cabin. It was fairly dark inside. No special camera settings, f/5.6.

asiafish Loc: Bakersfield, CA

If your subject is fairly far an the glass is dirty (and cannot be cleaned), shoot wide-open and at longer focal lengths. That shallow depth of field will drastically reduce the intrusion of dirt or other small imperfections. I've even shot through screens with decent (though lower contrast) results. I have a 50mm f/0.95 lens that shot wide-open through a thin silk sheet makes for mystical soft portraits.

Frank 2012 Loc: Olathe, Kansas

You have a lot of good information for shooting thru glass. Four years ago I used my 400mm prime lens mounted on a tripod and set back about two feet from a 7 foot double pane insulated glass window. Focusing thru the window to get some pictures of birds eating mini crabapples. It was February and mostly a cloudy day. I did make sure inside window was clean, however, since I was on the second floor I didn't worry about the outside window surface.
First is CedarWaxwing f/6.3, 1/320 sec, iso 1600, 400mm
Second is Robin f/8, 1/640, iso 1600, 400mm
Third is Starling f/7.1, 1/500, iso 1600, 400mm

dhelix33 Loc: Live in Raleigh, NC - Grew up in Teaneck, NJ

I don’t know if there is a “best” f/stop to use when shooting through glass. I did tend to keep the aperture fast when shooting the Atlanta Aquarium (see attached samples). I physically place the lens on the window. Be careful though, sometimes the movement and vibrations of the building can bump the camera . There are photographers who use a polarizing filter to remove reflections. For me, it’s hit or miss. A polarizer seems to help reduce reflections but not eliminate them. In fact, this can create another problem. For instance, if you don’t have the luxury of shooting with an external monitor, it can be hard to tell if a reflection is present or not. The reflections may seem to vanish on a tiny camera LCD screen, but when viewed on a computer monitor they may be revealed. I have UV filters on all the lenses I own that are capable of mounting one.


Image 1
Nikon D700
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8
Aperture: ƒ/3.3
Focal Length: 70mm
Shutter Speed: 1/90
ISO: 1600

Image 2
Aperture: ƒ/2.8
Focal Length: 31mm
Shutter Speed: 1/60
ISO: 1600

Image 3
Nikon D700
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8
Aperture: ƒ/2.8
Focal Length: 70mm
Shutter Speed: 1/60
ISO: 1600

Image 4
Nikon D700
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8
Aperture: ƒ/2.8
Focal Length: 24mm
Shutter Speed: 1/60
ISO: 1600

Image 5
Nikon D700
Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8
Aperture: ƒ/2.8
Focal Length: 31mm
Shutter Speed: 1/180
ISO: 1600

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OZMON Loc: WIGAN UK

best way, use a polarizing filter,

bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

my rear door and storm door have glass, in the winter I sometimes shoot through both panes with ok results. I use normal aperture settings. in warmer weather I open the rear door and shoot through the storm door.

dhelix33 Loc: Live in Raleigh, NC - Grew up in Teaneck, NJ

Please help me to understand what a "normal aperture setting" is?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Nice work!

This makes me want to take my GH4 and 12-35mm (24-70 equivalent FF field of view) with a polarizer to the nearest aquarium and play...

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Same here...

My personal assumption is that my "normal" aperture is the one that maximizes performance under the circumstances.

I'm usually working between f/2.8 and f/8 on Micro 4/3, preferring to work at f/4 when practical. That will change to a wider aperture set when I add fast primes to the mix.

Whenever I'm in doubt, I refer to the Depth of Field Calculator app on my iPhone...

asiafish Loc: Bakersfield, CA

A "normal aperture" has no meaning as all apertures a given lens can be set to are normal. Most likely "normal" in context of shooting through glass was meant to mean "best", in which case I recommend as wide as your lens will go without unduly sacrificing image quality. For some cheap kit zooms, stopping down two or three stops is often required to get decent image quality, however by then there is so much depth of field that dirt on the glass might be visible. With an extremely high quality prime lens wide-open aperture is often fully usable with very high image quality, and of course will completely blur out most spots on the glass up close.

Jolly Roger Loc: Dorset. UK

I saw this link earlier today by Serge Ramelli.
He gives a couple of ideas for shooting through glass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7e_826XG-g