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Not Photographing Reflections On Glass

photographing reflections on glass

Glass can be an obstacle for many photographers, not photographing reflections on glass or glasses for that matter.

Sometimes a photographer can get stuck in a situation where reflections on glass are inevitable, and more so with people.

For example, if you are at the zoo and trying to photograph an animal behind glass, without it looks like you are at the zoo – it can get tricky. If the glass is dirty with finger prints then you might see the reflection more. If the room light is in the worst spot, then you might see the reflection more. If there are people pounding on the glass to get the animals attention, causing the glass to vibrate, then you might see more reflection. There are a lot of factors that can come into play in one situation.

With portraits, if you are using lights it is important to position the subject and the lights in a way that there are no reflections on the glasses. David Hobby once said:

To avoid reflections in glasses, simply light from one side and have the person face the other… The thing is to position the glasses so that the angle is such that the light reflects harmlessly off into space. Doesn’t really matter where. Just not towards your camera. If the subject is looking away from the light, that’s a piece of cake.

Of course with people, it can be as simple as that. Another way of not photographing reflections on glass is to work in a dark place and use tighter lights through snoots and grids rather than umbrellas and softboxes, so the subject is not looking at the light.

If you have shooting behind glasses often, then the LenSkirt might be worth the $49 investment.

Want a video? Mark Wallace filmed an AdoramaTV episode on it:

So I hope all of this was helpful. Thanks for reading and happy shooting,
Scott

By Scott

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