[Photography] Tips for Minimizing Reflections When Photographing Through Windows

Have you ever wanted to take a photo through a shop window, but couldn’t work out how to cut the reflections? Or been up on an observation deck, trapped behind glass that had so many stray lights shining into the glass, that you couldn’t get a good shot of what was on the other side?

It is hard to take photos through glass and not get lots of unwanted reflections.

Glass can be one of the hardest things to take photos through. It doesn’t seem to matter where you move, you will find more reflections. Then just when you think you have the perfect shot, you put it on the computer only to find that they are still there.

Shop Windows

One of the most commons places to take photos, is through shop windows. But, they are often in well-lit places, and they are tough because you will be getting reflections from all directions. There are ways of minimizing the reflections, and things you can do to help prevent them.

Polarizering Filter

A polarizer filter will help reduce the reflections. It may not remove them all, but it will help you to eliminate many of them. Take the images below, it has all the lights on the outside of the store reflected in the glass, and with a polarizing filter.

The reflections of the lights from outside the shop can be seen on the glass.

The reflections have been removed by the help of the polarizing filter.

A circular polarizing filter was put on the lens, and in order to remove the reflections, it was turned until they just disappeared. Take a look at the image above right, the filter has helped remove many of them.

It doesn’t always work, but it can help reduce reflections. In some cases, you are going to find that reducing them is better than having them ruin your images.

Using a Lens Hood

If you can get your lens right up to the glass of the window so that it sits on it squarely, it can stop any unwanted reflections from getting in front of the lens. However, it means that you can only take photos of what is directly in front of the camera, what do you do if you want to take some at an angle? There is no doubt that once you move it on an angle you will start to see reflections.

You want to be able to create a seal around the end of the lens, and a rubber lens hood can do that. Look at the following photo, you can see one on the lens.

The rubber lens cap is on the lens, and pushed against the window.

The advantage is the flexibility, and how you can move it around and change the angle of your lens. The following two images show one with reflections, and one without. The latter is the one taken using the rubber lens hood.

Reflections on the glass are apparent here.

The rubber lens hood has eliminated the reflections.

They used to be very common and a lot of people would have the rubber hoods for their lenses, but slowly the hard plastic ones have taken over. It is good to see that if you hunt around on the internet, you can still find them. The one used for this demonstration was found on Ebay.

Trams, trains and cars

There are numerous places you could use it, and on a recent trip to the mountains around Lake Tahoe, it would have been great in the tram up Squaw Valley. The glass in the tram had so many reflections it wasn’t worth trying to get any photos. It was the same on the tram that runs from Roosevelt Island to New York.

Trains and other moving vehicles have the same problems with windows and reflections. The rubber lens hood would help you to get an image free of any distracting reflections. However, there is one place in Melbourne where it wouldn’t help at all.

Eureka Skydeck

In Melbourne there is an observation deck that is 88 floors up, Eureka Skydeck, that provides some stunning views of Melbourne. It is a great place to see the city, but a terrible place to take photos.

There is glass all around, and it reflects everything else in it. The one place where you can go outside has mesh across it and for most cameras the holes in it are not big enough to take photos through. At night there are lights on the floor that create their own effects on the windows.

If you go up to the glass to take photos, you will find that if you use the rubber lens hood method won’t work as there are two panes of glass. You might get rid of the reflections off the first pane, but there is not much you can do with the second.

Here are two images, the first was taken during the day and you can see the reflections. The second image was taken at night and you can see all the lights that are there reflected in the glass.

Taken during the day and you can see the reflections.

At night the lights inside reflect everywhere, and you can also get portraits shots, whether you want them or not.

Like everything in photography, there are always ways to get around problems.

To eliminate the reflections, you will need to put your camera on a tripod, or something similar, for the following image a GorillaPod was used. It was placed close to the ground, as you can see in the image. At the Eureka Skydeck they have lights in the floor, so you have to make sure that light isn’t coming from under the camera.

The camera on the gorillapod on the floor.

Set up your image and create a seal around the camera with fabric, you could use a piece of black cloth. It needs to be dark as a lighter colour will reflect as well. For these images a lightweight black jacket was held up against the window, to help prevent the reflections. You want to be able use the fabric or jacket to create a closed-in area around the camera, so you don’t get unwanted views in your image. Look at the following image.

The jacket is placed around the camera to stop reflections.

Of course no system is going to be foolproof, but, if you compare the following two images, you can see that it does make a big difference. The first image was done without any protection, and the jacket was used for the second one.

This image has had nothing done to stop the reflections.

This was taken using the above method with a jacket to block the reflections.

You have to judge each situation as you get to it. While one technique might work in one place, it may not work elsewhere. There is no doubt that glass and windows are one of the hardest objects to photograph through, a bit like photographing a mirror. Take care, and I hope the next time you are taking photos of a shop window, you get some great photos.

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[Photography] The Not So Decisive Moment – How to Increase Your Chances of Getting the Best Shot

To a certain extent Henri Cartier-Bresson has a lot to answer for. Yes, he’s certainly one of the photography greats, and his work has inspired countless photographers, but his book “ The Decisive Moment ” and the meaning of its title, is frequently misunderstood by many, and has created a whole raft of confusion.

Many photographers have made the assumption that Cartier-Bresson was referring to a sort of magic moment, where the photographer manages to instinctively see a perfectly formed image in a fraction of a second, bring the camera up to their eye, and take the image in its perfect form, before moving on. Interestingly, the French version of the book is called “Images on the Run”, which seems to almost suggest the opposite. This couldn’t be further from the truth, and a study of his contact sheets tells a rather different story.

I’ve been photographing weddings professionally in a photo journalistic style, for well over 10 years. When I started out, I too thought that capturing these types of images was simply about looking and reacting. However, I soon learned that by taking control and being proactive, rather than reactive, I could significantly increase my chances of getting the shot.

There really isn’t a magic formula, and is possible to stack the odds in your favour, to greatly improve your chances of getting the image. Sometimes it really is luck and good reactions, but more often than not, the techniques outlined below will produce more consistent and predictable results.

Set up your camera

On a very practical level, it’s vital that you have the right camera, and that it’s set up correctly. It must be quick, with virtually no shutter lag at all. You’ll also need to get used to timing your shutter actuations. This can be done with practice, by repeatedly photographing moving objects, such as passing cars or bikes, until you’ve completely gotten the feel of the timing, and speed of the shutter release. This is vital, as the coordination between your eye, the shutter release, and the camera needs to be instinctive, to achieve the split second timing that’s needed.

You might find that shooting with a prime lens is faster as well. Using a zoom will inevitably waste precious seconds zooming in and out, it’s often quicker to just move. You might also find that the focus on a prime lenses is a bit quicker, and that you compose better with a prime attached to the camera, rather than a zoom.

As far as camera settings are concerned, again, it’s all about anticipation. Set up the camera, wait, and shoot. Often this will mean using a number of auto controls – have a go at using auto ISO, auto white balance (to be corrected from the RAW files in Lightroom) and generally shoot in aperture priority mode. For this type of photography, the moment is far more important than your choice of depth of field, and even having the camera on full programme mode is okay. It’s all about emotion and expression, timing and anticipation, and the fewer distractions you have to achieve this goal, the better. If you are a manual shooter, then setting the exposure in advance is critical.

Finally, it’s also worth mentioning, that having a camera that writes to the memory card reasonably quickly, is important too. You’ll likely need to fire off several shots relatively rapidly, and waiting for the camera to write the card is a pain. Often buying faster, high quality cards is the answer, maybe changing the camera to record slightly smaller jpegs might work – again the priority is timing, speed, and anticipation for this type of photography. If you need to sacrifice using massive file sizes, to gain the speed you need, then so be it.

Pre-planning and envisioning

Think about where the type of pictures you want are likely to happen. It’s hopeless to randomly go out looking for photographs, you really have to put yourself in the best situation, at the best time, to increase your chances of getting the pictures you’re after. If you are a street photographer for example, then you’ll probably want to head out in the middle of the day, maybe on a weekend, when the streets are more likely to be filled with people. There will be many more interactions, and your chances of success are higher. It all begins with deciding exactly what type of pictures you want, and where the most likely place are that you will get them.

Once you are in place, also pre-visualizing the types of shots you want, will give you focus and purpose. If you’re photographing at an outdoor market for example, how about setting yourself the task of photographing human connections, maybe as people are chatting, handing over money or goods, etc? Or how about looking for interesting juxtapositions between shop window displays, and people standing or passing in front of them? This may all sound rather prescriptive but, by setting yourself some parameters, you’ll get your creative juices going, focus your attention, and increase your chances of success. There’s nothing worse than not knowing what you want, randomly taking pictures, waiting for something to happen.

Set the scene

It’s important to look for the elements in the image that you can actually control. For example, finding some nice light, a great background, or a place where an image will work well compositionally. Having set the stage, it’s then simply a case of waiting for something to happen on the stage, to complete the picture. This is so much better than looking for something to happen in hunting mode, where you are trying to react to things all over, and have no control over any of the photographic elements. The chances of getting a strong image with the former method, are significantly higher. It might take longer, and you may shoot fewer frames, but the overall quality of the end result will be better.

Work at the image

Looking at his contact sheets, Cartier-Bresson always took several exposures of the same scene or moment. He very rarely got the shot in one take, and it’s a great relief to realize that he worked the scene. This means that you need to take a number of frames, in fairly quick succession – not on continuous (burst) shooting mode, but close enough together to record subtly different expressions, juxtapositions of people in the frame, and changes of angle and composition. You should aim to keep moving – try the shot a little to the left, then the right, maybe a step forward or back, or a little higher or lower. Photography should keep you fit, and you should always be moving. You can then go through the different frames once they are downloaded, and select the strongest image.

Being unobtrusive and body language

Generally people will be aware that you’re taking pictures. I don’t think that it’s a particularly good approach to stalk your subject from behind a huge 400mm lens, it’s much better to use something smaller and less intrusive, to be closer to the subject and more involved in what’s going on. You can even interact with people as you’re taking pictures, which makes you much less threatening, and consequently people will behave in a much more natural and relaxed way in front of you and your camera.

Being non-threatening can be as simple as smiling, looking relaxed, keeping your body language open and friendly, and just being respectful of people’s personal space. Yes, you’re an observer, but you have to observe from a position of being emotionally and physically involved. You’ll gain much more acceptance from your subjects, and the pictures will be more authentic and natural. That’s not to say that your presence should influence the scene in any way, it’s just that you have to be accepted, to be able to photograph people behaving naturally. If your subjects insist on fake posing, and smiling for the camera, you need to work harder.

A great way of making this work is to move in and out of the scene really quickly – essentially this means waiting for a scene to unfold a little distance from you. As the moment is about to happen, walk towards the scene, camera ready to go. Very quickly, shoot as you are close to the action, then continue to walk out of the scene. If you combine this with unobtrusive body language, you can remain essentially invisible.

Eye contact

Human eye contact is a powerful communication which you can use to your advantage. I think that people can almost sense when they are being watched, and avoiding eye contact (in a non-threatening way) can be a powerful technique. If you want to photograph a group of people, it’s amazing how close you can get to them, if you seem to be diverting your attention to something else. It’s then often possible to get the shot without disturbing them, as they feel as though your interest is elsewhere. We also naturally have an inclination to look at our subject as we take the camera down from our eye, so try to avoid doing that. You’ll be much less intrusive and conspicuous to your subject, particularly if you seem to be focussing your attention on some other subject away from them.

Insert Image 007 MISSING??

Anticipation

This means simply imagining what could happen next, you need to become an expert in human behaviour, and be ready for what you think is about to happen. Often, with a bit of practice, you’ll be right, and you’ll have prepared yourself to get the shot.

As an example, part of my job as a wedding photographer, is to take pictures of people laughing and enjoying themselves. Good expressions are vital, and getting the timing right is the key. I listen for people telling an amusing tale, that will inevitably end in laughter. It’s no good waiting until they are laughing to bring the camera to my eye and take the shot – I need to be ready beforehand, and choose my moment. It’s also worth saying that often there will be laughter at the original joke, then someone will but in with secondary after joke, creating even more hilarity, which often makes an even better image than the first one – so be patient and wait.

The same principal can be applied to all sorts of situations – imagine what is going to happen next, prepare for it, and photograph it, if and when it happens. Often something else will happen, so you also need to be prepared to be flexible. Make sure that when you get what you were expecting, that something else even better doesn’t happen and you miss it.

No chimping

The moment is often after when you think it’s going to be – just as you are checking your screen. This is what I call the chimping effect. Many, many times I’ve taken an image, had a quick look down at the screen on the back of the camera, only to realize that I have just missed something better. Don’t look at the screen. Keep your camera ready, and always wait – even if you think you’ve got the shot.

Similarly, you will often miss great shots, just at the point when you are tired and have given up. You need to keep going and going – I know that the longer I shoot, the more high quality images I will get. I also know that by having a complete break for five minutes or so every hour, I am able to keep quick and alert for longer. However it’s weird the number of times that I have just given up on a scene, that something suddenly interesting happens.

When it looks like there’s nothing to photograph – think again

Very rarely is there not a photograph to be taken somewhere – it comes down to the photographer’s skill in making images. This is particularly hard with transient, and moving subjects like people. But, people do constantly interact, do things, and move around. It might be that you can’t get the exact image you have in mind, but try to think more laterally, and look for something completely different. In a situation like this it becomes a case of mind over matter, work at keeping your creative thinking fresh and flexible, and you will find an image somewhere.

Practically speaking, changing lenses, moving position, or trying a new technique can spark some creative thought. However, very often it’s just a case of looking and waiting… then looking and waiting some more. There are always images to be had, often they are small fleeting moments, but they are always there.

It’s behind you

This isn’t a joke. Weirdly, and frequently, I’ll be looking for an image in front of me, not having much luck, then realize that I should have been looking the other way. Often just turning right around, will present a completely new range of photographic possibilities. Sometimes the picture really is just behind you – you only need to turn around and look.

Primary and secondary subjects making the moment

Try to make a photograph by adding another element in the frame, i.e. having a primary and secondary subject. It could be that both subjects make an okay picture on their own, but if they are combined into one image, they become much stronger. If the image explores a relationship between the two subjects it’s even better. Maybe one offers a commentary on the other, or there is an echoing of shape or gesture.

Waiting, waiting and waiting

I’ve mentioned being patient several times, and the amount of time spent looking and waiting for success in this type of photography is phenomenal. Never give up – just wait, poised for action. Linger a little longer, just outside your comfort zone you might well find that there are a number of great images to be had.

As with anything, practice is the one thing that will really make a difference, and this can be both photographic practice, as well as observational practice. Try to develop skills in reading people, anticipating moments in your everyday life, and practice your observational skills. Combine this with the other techniques above, and you will soon find that you are able to make some of these seemingly magic moment images happen. You will have become proactive in your photography, rather than reactive, and your success rate will be considerably higher.

You Decide

So I urge you to give these tips a try, and see if you can come away with better candid images. Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

 

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[Photography] Understanding the HSL Panel in Lightroom for Beginners

There are many things involved in post-processing an image, that might seem a little bit daunting at first. That doesn’t mean that they are difficult to learn, or hard to understand. The HSL panel in Adobe Lightroom (or similar editing software that uses Adobe Camera Raw), tends to bring about feelings of anxiety, when it comes to making sense of all those sliders. Some photographers choose to pretend it doesn’t even exist, just because it looks a little complicated. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Simply put, those three little letters stand for Hue-Saturation-Luminance. What makes the HSL panel so powerful, is that it allows you to control different colors independently. HSL adjustments will enable you to brighten, or emphasize specific saturations, and control the hue of only certain colors. Like working with black and white? Then you should definitely make use of the HSL panel, and take your black and white conversions to a whole new level. Let’s get started!

We’ve already talked about what the letter HSL stand for, so now let’s break it down, so that you will really understand how each one affects your image.

H – What is hue?

Admittedly, trying to discern the functional difference between the words hue and color, can form a little bit of a gray area (haha color humor). But generally, we think of hue in terms of the shade of a color on a gradient and is dependant on the wavelength of the light reflected. Don’t worry, that’s about as scientific as we will get.

Let’s say that I see a flower out in a field. The flower has beautiful yellow petals. What shade of yellow are the petals? Are they actually yellow, or are they maybe a dark yellow with a little bit of orange? Maybe a brighter, more greenish yellow? This subtle gradient of color is what we might describe as hue, and it varies infinitely across the color wheel. Controlling the hue of the colors in your image is a great way to bring realism to your photo, or even depart from it using psychedelic alternatives to the actual colors within the scene.

S – What is saturation?

Saturation is much simpler to comprehend. When we talk about saturation, we are referring to the intensity of a color. Saturation can play a central role in controlling the mood of a photograph. Highly saturated colors generally convey brighter emotions, whereas muted, desaturated color can lend a sense of brooding or sadness. What the HSL panel allows you to do is control the saturation of only the colors you choose, which will really expand your creative range.

L – What is luminance?

This may very well be the most easy part about HSL to understand, and requires the least amount of explaining. Luminance is simply the reflective brightness of colors. It is extremely useful when there are certain colors within the image that you feel should be either darker, or brighter. This comes in handy, especially when working with black and white images (converted from color), but more on that in just a moment.

There are a couple of ways to configure the HSL panel, but I prefer to leave each adjustment section open while I work. True, it takes up a fair amount of space in the develop module, but it also let’s me make quick adjustments as I go without switching back and forth between the dedicated hue, saturation, and luminance panels.

Adjusting specific saturations

Let’s say you have an image that you want to bring out only certain colors. You can do this by using the saturation slider. An easy way to select the color you want to adjust, is by using the color picker. It eliminates the guesswork of deciding what color is actually which. In this case I want to increase the saturation, brightness, and hue of the leaves, without affecting the blues of the background.

Find the saturation section of the HSL panel, and select the picker tool (see red arrow below to locate it).

Hover over the color you want to saturate or desaturate. Notice that this will subtly highlight the corresponding color values in the saturation section of the HSL panel. Then simply click and hold while you drag up or down.

The change here is barely perceptible for the time being, but after some more adjustments, it will be obvious.

Adjusting specific luminance

Next, we will make the leaves a little bit brighter, so that they stand out from the blue background even more. They mainly consist of oranges and yellows. Go to the luminance section, and again select the color picker tool. This time it will control the brightness of the selected color.

Click and drag (up to lighten, down to darken).

Adjusting specific hues

I like saving the hue adjustments for last, because it’s easier (for me at least) to decide the final color tone, after it has reached the desired brightness and saturation. For this picture, I want to make the leaves more orange than yellow in hue. As above, locate the hue adjustment section and the color picker and then…you guessed it, click and drag.

After you finish, make sure to go back and perform any fine tuning using the sliders, in order to get everything just right.

Before adjustments

After – final image

HSL with Black and White

When it comes to black and white, the HSL panel can work wonders. Of course, seeing as the image is black and white, there won’t be any effect on the hue or saturation of the colors. Rather, Lightroom gives you a completely different set of controls, which is virtually a stand-alone luminance adjustment panel.

Even though you are working with a monochromatic image, the color information is still stored, so the program knows what color was there, before the conversion to black and white. Keep in mind, this does not apply to images shot in non-RAW format (like JPG) using your camera’s black and white setting, or images which you previously converted to grayscale in Photoshop. Doing so removes all the color information from the image file, making the option for working with individual color luminance in Lightroom unavailable.

By being able to selectively adjust the brightness of each color, you will now be possible to adjust the luminance of your black and whites very creatively. This way, you can really control the contrast and mood of your image much better and easier. Adjusting the luminance of certain colors, within a converted black and white image, can drastically change the way the photo appears to the viewer. Here is color image after being converted to black and white.

Here you see the same image, after some selective adjustments in the black and white section of the HSL panel.

Working with the HSL panel may look overwhelming, but once you understand how each adjustment affects your photo, it becomes a lot less scary. By being able to adjust the hue, saturation, and luminance of colors, independently of one another, will allow to take a huge amount of creative control over your post-processing. Don’t be reluctant to experiment with HSL and have fun with your photography!

Have you used the HSL panel before? What other tips or tricks to you have for using it? Please share in the comments below.

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[Photography] My New Favorite Lens: The Fujinon 35mm F1.4 R

Before I switched to Fujifilm I was a Canon EOS user. My favorite camera was the EOS 5D Mark II and my favorite lens the 85mm f/1.8. I liked that lens because it was ideal for portraits, and for close-ups revealing details.

When I switched to Fujifilm I expected the Fujinon 56mm f/1.2 lens, the closest equivalent (on an APS-C crop sensor camera) to the 85mm, to become my new favorite. It’s a great lens, especially for portraiture. But, to my surprise, the humble 35mm f/1.4 lens, bundled with the X-Pro 1, has become my new favorite.

At first I was a little puzzled as to why. With Canon I owned a 50mm lens, and while I tried to use it in practice, it didn’t get used much. It was more of an experimental lens – I used it with extension tubes, and reversed for experimental close-up and macro photography. Occasionally I used it while out shooting, but always ended up preferring either the 85mm (short telephoto) or a wide-angle.

So what happened with the 35mm f/1.4 lens (which has the same angle-of-view, and is a normal lens for an APS-C camera)? I think, a number of things happened.

• The 35mm suits the X-T1, the camera I use most of the time, very well. The camera feels well balanced, and is light enough to carry around all day.
• This camera and lens combination is ideal for taking candid photos of people, without being too far away (losing the sense of intimacy and closeness) or having to get too close to fill the frame (where I would be getting close enough to bother people). People may notice me with it, but they don’t seem to be worried by it.
• It’s an ideal focal length for environmental portraiture. I used it the 35mm lens a lot during a recent trip to China, where I had a lot of fun photographing people. It allows me to capture a scene with people in it, without revealing too much (always a danger with wide-angle lenses) or too little (as can happen with short telephotos).

These two photos are great examples.

Another thing I like about the 35mm lens, is that it focuses quite close to the subject, allowing me to move in close for detail shots without having to use a close-up lens or extension rings. The 85mm lens that I used with my Canon camera didn’t focus quite so closely, and I had to use a 500D close-up lens (filter) with it for close-up photography. Here’s an example.

One of the benefits of a mirrorless camera system, with an APS-C sensor, is that the lenses are smaller and lighter than those made for camera systems with full-frame models. The 35mm lens is small (it’s only 55 mm long) and light (it only weighs 187 grams, 6.5 ounces). Compare those dimensions to a 35mm f/1.4 lens made for a full-frame camera and you’ll see what I mean (Canon’s 35mm f/1.4 is 20.46 oz., or 580 grams).

That wide aperture comes in very useful when shooting in low light, or if you want to use a wide aperture for creative effect. This lens gives me the best of two worlds – small size and wide aperture. This photo, taken at f/1.4, ISO 6400, shows how useful a wide aperture is in low light.

Another benefit of this lens is that I can take photos that aren’t affected by converging verticals. With wide-angles, even moderate ones, any slight tilt of the camera results in converging verticals. Vertical lines are crooked rather than straight. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes I prefer the straightness and order, imposed by the 35mm lens. This candid photo shows the point – with a 35mm lens it was easy to frame the photo and make sure the pillar (and the other verticals) were straight.

The focal length also works very well when I shoot in the square format. There is something a little magical about the results, and I have been using it a lot for that lately. Here is a photo I took recently in Spain.

Your turn

Have you used the Fujinon 35mm f/1.4 lens? Or indeed any other normal or standard lens? Let us know what you like, or dislike, about these lenses in the comments. It will be interesting to hear what you think.

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Mastering Lenses

My new ebook Mastering Lenses: A Photographer’s Guide to Creating Beautiful Photos With Any Lens shows you how to get the best from the lenses you own already. A comprehensive guide to exploring the creative potential potential of wide-angle, normal and telephoto lenses, it’s also the ultimate buying guide for readers thinking about purchasing a new lens for their camera. Please click the link to learn more or buy.

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