getting behind glass

cormie

Hi,
I'm trying to photo a piece of furniture with a water feature which is behind glass, but the photos aren't coming out the best, there is far too much reflection. What's the best way of shooting and not having any reflection? Would a cubelite be any use for this?

any feedback is appreciated:)

elven

Try a polariser - and different angles from the glass to minimise the reflection.

cormie

sorry, but could you elaborate on the polariser thingy please

elven

There's a couple of pictures of a river that gives you an idea here: http://www.ephotozine.com/techniques/viewtechnique.cfm?recid=210

It's easy enough to do a google on polariser/polarizer and you'll find plenty of information with about 5 mins reading.

Fajitas!

It's a little filter that you put on your lens, and by twisting it, you can reduce reflections etc... It shoul cost about 18 quid a 58 diameter lens.

Clseeper

A polariser is a filter fitted to the front of your camera. Depending on its orientation, it will block certain rays of light. By varying it orientation it will greatly reduce the reflection of the window.

Same material as polarising sunglasses.

I presume you have turned off the flash. You may still get good photo's by varying the angle you take the photo's relative to the glass.

440Hz

Invading the photo forum now cormie Welcome! Nothing to add really, just saying hi and that I agree re polarisering filter

Roen

Try not to have the front lens element parallel to the glass when using a polariser.

cormie

Thanks for the feedback everyone:) ok so a polariser seems to be the way to go, I must ask around for a lend, even though €18 isn't a lot, it's still just for about 10 photos, if even:)

Where would I get it for €18? Is that the standard price or is that the lowest ebay bid winning lucky rare price? I need it pretty soon so online isn't really an option:o

elven

I wouldn't worry about just using it for those 10 shots. you can use it anytime when you're looking to make the colours that bit more saturated by removing glare, like on grass/trees/roofs after rain or something. It also makes your blue skies bluer and your white fluffy clouds whiter and fluffier

Just make sure that you get a circular rather than a linear one, or it won't work with your autofocus. Jessops are a bit dearer, they are about £25 which is going to be more like €34 but that's what happens when you want to walk intoa shop and buy it and can't shop about online. Maybe some of the other camera shops in the town will be a bit cheaper. Remeber if you don't already know it to check the diameter of your lens that you want to use it with!!!

cormie

cool, thanks again for that:) Is there a specific one I should get for this camera do you know?

King Eric

maybe this wont work, but it might be worth a shot, try holding a pair of polarising sunglasses in front of the lens, it looks small enough that you could cover the lens without seing the frame of the glasses, you could probably still rotate the glasses to get different polarising effects, if this is too awkward try holding the camera on a tripod

Roen

King Eric wrote:

maybe this wont work, but it might be worth a shot, try holding a pair of polarising sunglasses in front of the lens, it looks small enough that you could cover the lens without seing the frame of the glasses, you could probably still rotate the glasses to get different polarising effects, if this is too awkward try holding the camera on a tripod

I've done that plenty, even with a full SLR lens and just cropped. Should be no problem with that camera.

cormie

thanks for that tip, but if they are sunglasses, would the image not come out a much darker shade? Or is that what the polariser will do anyway?

JMcL

cormie wrote:

thanks for that tip, but if they are sunglasses, would the image not come out a much darker shade? Or is that what the polariser will do anyway?

The camera will compensate for the loss of light by longer exposure, wide aperture etc. Try to disable automatic flash and make sure the camera itself is well supported, preferably on a tripod.