Monday Window – 1

Looking at and looking in

Jealousy – that’s the reason for this post. All the “likes” are going over to 2C2V. So I decided to chime in and do some Monday Window fun here. But, but, up in the header it says “chats and tips about photography”. This is a chat — not enough?  OK, I’ll think of some tip. Let me look through my archives and notes.

Ah ha, here it is. Some photos I took for a photography course. Take a look at this photo:

LJK_8715-XW1-1024

You can see the windows reflect the sky beautifully. When light is reflected on a smooth surface like glass or water, especially at shallow angles like here, the reflected light is strongly polarized. No, I won’t go into the physics. With strong reflections our photographs loot at the window, and not in the window. That can make for wonderful images, but what if you want to look in?

This is where the polarizing filter comes in. You rotate the filter so the polarized light is either strongly passed through or strongly suppressed. In fact the photo above was made with a polarizing filter on the lens. It was set to maximize the reflection. No turn it ninety degrees and here is the result:

LJK_8714-XW1-1024

Now much of the reflected light is stopped an we can look into the windows. You can see that it makes quite a difference, but it is not perfect.

What if you don’t have a polarizing filter? I did use the word “angle”. Yes, the angle at which you look at the reflecting surface makes quite a difference. Another thing that might be under your control is what is reflected. Bright sky will show up strongly. Seeing the reflection of a dark building might be so low that it is hardly noticeable.  So changing your position might make all the difference. Of course it all depends on what you are after, looking in or looking at.

Here are a couple of photos showing the difference your position can make.

Photowalk - Duluth, GA 5Oct2013
Photowalk – Duluth, GA 5Oct2013
Photowalk - Duluth, GA 5Oct2013
Photowalk – Duluth, GA 5Oct2013

Well, that’s my little tip for you. Hope you also enjoyed the pictures.

 

Also see my Monday Window series

.:.

© 2016 Ludwig Keck

8 comments

  1. Pingback: Monday Window – Review 4 – Monday Window

  2. I did, and thank you for the tips. Now all I need is a camera that has changeable lenses! But I’ve noticed that angles do make all the difference when photographing windows, even with my little iPhone camera.

    1. Thank you, Kathryn. That’s how it goes when the photography bug bites you. There are always more toys to hanker for.

        1. I just could not figure out how Finding Our Features works so I gave up. Guess I’m too dense for that.

          1. I’m so sorry to hear that, Ludwig. I know for a fact you’re not the least bit dense. I suspect there was a communication lapse somewhere along the line. The FOF event concludes in April. I don’t know if Ann plans to extend it, but if she does, perhaps we can figure this out. I’m sure we’d all enjoy your participation and input.

          3. Yes, I’m not fond of competitions either. I’d rather focus on getting to know people, sharing tips and, when people are willing to share their opinions, getting critiques on my work. It’s so helpful to see it from another person’s point of view, don’t you think?

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