Photo Quick Tip - Shooting Through Glass

[John_White]

Often I'm asked how to avoid reflections when shooting through glass and in this QT I'll try to explain how unwanted reflections happen and how to work around them.

Red-eye and other annoying reflections are most often caused by the position of the flash and lens and their relationship to each other. Reflections from ones own flash occur when the angle at the reflective surface from the flash to the lens axis is 2.5° or smaller. I will refer to this angle as RA (Reflective Angle) See the example below.


If you have a fixed camera flash, the simplest thing to do is to move the camera lens as close as possible to the aquarium glass and thus increasing the RA. Unfortunately, moving the lens closer to the aquarium glass may bring the subject too close for your camera to obtain focus. Some cameras will accept screw-on magnifying lenses also called close-up filters which decrease the minimum focus range. This allows the camera to be moved closer to the subject while keeping the subject within the range of focus.

In the photo below, a flash unit has been added to the cameras hotshoe connector. Using the external flash increases the RA to greater than 2.5°, eliminating reflections from the glass.

[NicoleRussell]

thanx Mr. White

[morti]

Excelent tip John!

[eddie]

Is that a happy wind up frog or what?

Great tip!
BUT, many of us have digis now with a built in either on or off flash.
I know how I go about dealing with glass using mine, making us of the tanks light source or moving off to the side to get a good non bouncy angle.

What tips do you have for us non SLR types, aside from going SLR?

[Stormyva]

Thanks for the information John.
After the trip to the zoo I added a hot shoe flash and it's made a huge difference!

[toker]

Thanks for the info!

[John_White]

Originally Posted by eddie

Is that a happy wind up frog or what?
Great tip!
BUT, many of us have digis now with a built in either on or off flash.
I know how I go about dealing with glass using mine, making us of the tanks light source or moving off to the side to get a good non bouncy angle.
What tips do you have for us non SLR types, aside from going SLR?

Eddie,
I only have a few suggestions for people with non-SLR type cameras:

1) As I stated above, move the camera lens as close as possible to the aquarium glass.
2) Increase the ambient light level to where a flash is unnecessary.
3) Increase the sensitivity (ISO setting) of your camera's sensor so that flash is unnecessary.
4) Play around and experiment to determine what works for you and your equipment.

[natas]

John_White: I have a polarizer lense (spelling?) and it seems to cut down a little on the glare. Is there a certain way to angle this lence that will help?

[haroldo359]

great tip. thanks.