Tips for shooting through glass - beginner

FairyCake

FairyCake

Member
Hi all,

I wonder if anyone could possibly give a relative beginner some tips about what settings to use when shooting through glass? I have a Canon 750D with a standard lens and also a standard 55-200 zoom lens (f4.5-6.3).

I am very much a hobby photographer and so I don’t need outstanding results but whenever shooting through glass my results often then not come back blurry.

I tend to use the AV setting with an F point of 5 or 5.6 depending on zoom used, which seems to be okay when shooting through mesh (although I still get varying results!) but glass is a different story. I often have to take at least 20 shots to get one passable effort.

I am shortly about to embark on a 4 day tour of some of Scotland’s zoos/parks, culminating in a trip to hopefully see the pandas at Edinburgh. I understand these can be difficult to photograph so any tips gratefully received! I want to be able to get some decent shots at all the parks to serve as a memory but unfortunately my attempts to date just don’t quite cut it!

I don’t think I am competent enough as yet to use the Manual mode but if anyone has the time to talk me through a dummy’s guide to basic animal photography settings (both through glass or otherwise), I would be extremely grateful.

Thanks in advance to anyone able to give me some advice. I know a lot depends on light and weather conditions on the day, but I’m hoping (praying!) there might be a decent default setting that even dummies like me won’t be able to mess up.

Just for the record, I am capable of sometimes getting it right (my profile pic is an unedited photo taken by myself at Twycross) but it’s just the consistency I lack.

Thanks once again :)
 
What exactly does the blur look like? Is it just that the camera has a hard time focusing through the glass, or is it more that the glass creates a washed out or hazy effect on the image?
 
Most important tip: put your lens ON the glass as much as possible! If that is not possible, make sure there are no reflections in the window at the part you want to photograph through the glass (take some all black shirt with long sleeves with you, otherwise you see your own reflection on the photo)
 
cloudedleopard611 said:
What exactly does the blur look like? Is it just that the camera has a hard time focusing through the glass, or is it more that the glass creates a washed out or hazy effect on the image?
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It’s mainly the second question (although I have had times where the camera has focused on a smear on the glass!) but usually it’s the animal itself that is very hazy. It’s almost like I’ve tried to take the photo when the subject is moving at the speed of sound - I’ve tried holding the camera as still as possible in case it’s a bit of shaky hand syndrome but this doesn’t seem to improve it much. The stabiliser on the camera is always on too :)
 
Stefan Verhoeven said:
Most important tip: put your lens ON the glass as much as possible! If that is not possible, make sure there are no reflections in the window at the part you want to photograph through the glass (take some all black shirt with long sleeves with you, otherwise you see your own reflection on the photo)
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Thank you, I will definitely try this. My friend is very good at being my shield to hide reflections but sometimes this isn’t possible due to the nature of the enclosure, especially if it’s an indoor spot and has two exit doors at either end that both bring in the light!

Resting against the glass is something I haven’t tried, so will give this a go :)
 
I use my lens hood most of the time but particularly for shooting through glass - as Stefan said I try and use the hood as a ‘seal’ so the lens is touching, square to the glass and the subject. Any angle will introduce some sort of effect whether light or blur.

You could try raising the shutter speed to reduce motion if you are finding your subjects are blurry though this can make the photos more noisy.

You can get separate rubber lens hoods for glass which squash against the surface and take the light / reflection out. I’ve seen a couple of people with them though I’ve never tried one myself. They are called ‘anti glass’ hoods and go for about £15 on Amazon. Someone may have used one / might be worth looking at the reviews.

I do have a small lens cloth in a pocket (think spectacles cleaner size) if the glass has a lot of spots or what have you in the good place to take a picture from.

At the long end your 200mm lens is relatively short and dark so it’s also a bit about picking your spot - ensuring you move around to find somewhere where the animal is fairly close or likely to come closer and the light is fairly bright.
 
Lafone said:
I use my lens hood most of the time but particularly for shooting through glass - as Stefan said I try and use the hood as a ‘seal’ so the lens is touching, square to the glass and the subject. Any angle will introduce some sort of effect whether light or blur.

You could try raising the shutter speed to reduce motion if you are finding your subjects are blurry though this can make the photos more noisy.

You can get separate rubber lens hoods for glass which squash against the surface and take the light / reflection out. I’ve seen a couple of people with them though I’ve never tried one myself. They are called ‘anti glass’ hoods and go for about £15 on Amazon. Someone may have used one / might be worth looking at the reviews.

I do have a small lens cloth in a pocket (think spectacles cleaner size) if the glass has a lot of spots or what have you in the good place to take a picture from.
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Thank you very much for your response - I will definitely look into the rubber lens hood - didn’t even realise they were a thing!

Also noted about the cleaning of the glass if necessary :)
 
FairyCake said:
Thank you very much for your response - I will definitely look into the rubber lens hood - didn’t even realise they were a thing!

Also noted about the cleaning of the glass if necessary :)
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No worries - glass can be a pain! I have more throwaways through it than through the wire.

I’d not seen those hoods before I saw a couple of photographers using them at Banham so I asked one what it was. I just use the regular hood but if you do take a look be interesting to hear your views.
 
One other point has not been mentioned yet in this thread: whenever possible, shoot directly through the glass, with the camera body parallel to the surface of the glass. This means that the light travels along the normal (to use the physics term) and so the image is not distorted by refraction. Of course there are times when you have to shoot at an angle, but try to keep the angle as close to 90 degrees as you can - you may be in an uncomfortable position for a moment, but your pictures should be better.
 
FairyCake said:
It’s mainly the second question (although I have had times where the camera has focused on a smear on the glass!) but usually it’s the animal itself that is very hazy. It’s almost like I’ve tried to take the photo when the subject is moving at the speed of sound - I’ve tried holding the camera as still as possible in case it’s a bit of shaky hand syndrome but this doesn’t seem to improve it much. The stabiliser on the camera is always on too :)
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This is a pretty common issue and one that I deal with from time to time. I do all the things others are suggesting and still end up with shots like that sometimes. Its seemingly unavoidable with some enclosures. The sun bear enclosure at the Saint Louis Zoo is an example of this. I certainly recommend the things others are talking about but if that falls through there are some pretty good fixes in photoshop to save your photo. Do you use photoshop?
 
I usually carry 2 cameras, a Canon Eos Rebel T7 w/ 75-300 mm lens for outdoor exhibits/faraway animals, and a Canon PowerShot G9X for animals behind glass/acrylic/very close animals/low light. The latter does well in aquariums, reptile houses, and nocturnal houses. I press it up against glass at eye level with the animal.
 
Thanks to everyone for their replies - the trip went well and I seemed to get a better overall selection of photos by getting as close to the glass as possible. Still have to work at it slightly to perfect the angle when I can’t get a square on photo, but overall I’m happy!

Lafone - I didn’t manage to get one of the silicone hoods before I left but I have since purchased one… I am yet to test it out properly but what I can say is it seems quite flimsy and doesn’t hold its shape very well. It does fit well on the camera however, and I haven’t seemed to tear it like people in the reviews mentioned was easy to do. Just from an initial point of view, I think it would be easier to use the flip screen for taking photos rather than putting your eye to the viewfinder as you can gauge the proximity of the hood to the glass without losing the shape.

Like I said though, I haven’t tried it out properly in a zoo setting and am unlikely to for a few weeks. It’s probably expensive for what it is but I will give it a go and see :)
 
FairyCake said:
I didn’t manage to get one of the silicone hoods before I left but I have since purchased one… I am yet to test it out properly but what I can say is it seems quite flimsy and doesn’t hold its shape very well. It does fit well on the camera however, and I haven’t seemed to tear it like people in the reviews mentioned was easy to do.
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This is easily solved, provided your hood is made of ordinary rubber (and I have never seen one made of silicone rubber): just wrap some plastic sticky tape around the lens hood, just behind the front, and then push it down the flimsy part, making a series of pleats around the rubber as it narrows. This should stiffen the flexible section, without making the rubber completely rigid. Insulating tape generally works ok, but there are lots of types, widths and colours available - I usually choose black to be less conspicuous, but it doesn' matter.
 
gentle lemur said:
This is easily solved, provided your hood is made of ordinary rubber (and I have never seen one made of silicone rubber): just wrap some plastic sticky tape around the lens hood, just behind the front, and then push it down the flimsy part, making a series of pleats around the rubber as it narrows. This should stiffen the flexible section, without making the rubber completely rigid. Insulating tape generally works ok, but there are lots of types, widths and colours available - I usually choose black to be less conspicuous, but it doesn' matter.
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Thank you, I didn’t even think of that! Great tip and one I will definitely try - I’m sure my dad has various tapes kicking around in his workshop so I guess I’ll be raiding it in the near future!

Thanks again :)
 
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