Take photos through shop glas windows in streets?

[bem]

Hi,
I have tried to take photos through glas windows at shops in various streets in my home town but it seems to be impossible to get any useful photos through the windows because of all the reflections from the glas  windows.
Is it possible to take photos through glass windows and if so how do You do it?

I want to document the small shops "death" in my town. In the old streets it has started to close many small shops now (some maybe because of the Corona) and I want to document this now and take photos of remaining shops and the empty shops. So that is why I want to take photos through the glass windows in the shops, from the street.

Thanks,
Bo

Edited July 28, 2020 by bem

[andrei89]

a circular polarizer should eliminate the reflections, if that's what you want

otherwise try using them to your advantage by moving around a bit to find shadows cast on the glass through which you can see inside

[cucinaferrari]

I've had this same problem in the past and have been able to resolve it with three different techniques:

1) Get your lens set to the focal length required and bring it as close as possible to the glass (even pressed up against it if needed to reduce glare, reflection and flash back.

2) You can also reduce/eliminate all the reflections by wearing all black and shooting from your hip (only if you have a swivel screen).

3) Instead of using your camera, you can opt to use any cell phone that has good image quality. These can usually be pressed against the glass and maintained quite steady. Also, use your timer release if you need to reposition.

4) The final option which works under all circumstances as long as you are able to get up against the window is to purchase a Lenskirt LENSKIRT Flexible Lens Hood.

I hope this helps.

Many of my night time landscape photos of NYC were made possible due to the use of a Lenskirt. You can see my images on Instagram: Scene_In_New_York

[jerryy]

The lensskirt does work but the circular polarizer has many other advantages:

It takes up a lot less space in your gear bag , even less if you leave it on the lens.

It turns washed out skies into brilliant blue skies — granted it is usually a good idea to take it off the lens if you are trying to get a multi frame panorama shot.

It allows you to get photos through water surfaces — very hard to do because of reflections.

A decent Tiffen polarizing filter costs around US $20 - $25. So you can experiment on a budget.

[andrei89]

i don't think any shop owner would be happy with you sticking a huge plunger on their window...so the polarizer solution is, at least, more elegant

[bem]

Thanks for the advices guys. I have ordered now a Breakthrough 72mm X4 Circular Polarising Filter. I use a Fujifilm X-T4 camera and lens XF 16-80mm F4 R OIS WR (72 mm). 

/Bo