Windows might seem clear when you look through them, but when you take a photo, you’ll notice that the glass has quite a significant effect on how things look. There’ll be reflections, flare, and all sorts of weird stuff going on that your brain mostly ignores—but your camera captures. Let’s look at how to take better photos out of windows.
Shoot From Inside Out
Just like it’s much easier to look out a window from inside than outside, it’s much easier to take photos from inside. You’re never going to get a good photo shooting from outside in unless you’re deliberately including the reflections in the image. This is a bit of a street photography trope and doing it well isn’t really what we’re looking at today. (It can also be a bit creepy).
RELATED: How to Take Good Street Photos
Instead, we want to minimize reflections when shooting from inside the house/car/plane/train/phonebox out rather than the other way around.
If you’re in a public location, you probably don’t have a lot of control over your environment, so this section is “nice if you can do it, don’t worry if you can’t.”
Start by turning off any lights inside. The darker the interior is, the fewer reflections you’ll have to deal with. In particular, try to turn off any lights that are shining directly on the window; you’ll be able to see their reflections if you look carefully. If you can’t turn off the lights, you can also use your body or a bit of cloth to block the camera off from the rest of the room.
Get a cloth and some warm soapy water and wash the window, outside and in. Anything that’s stuck to the window will also affect the image quality. Again though, you’re unlikely to have this option unless you’re shooting wildlife from your own home. Even just a quick wipe with the sleeve of your sweater can go a long way though.
Get as Close as Possible
The easiest way to shoot through a window is to have the lens as close as possible to the glass: touching it is ideal. The further back you are, the more the window is going to interfere with things like autofocus and the more likely you are to see any small bits of dirt or reflection. If you’re using your smartphone, literally press it right to the window.
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