how to prevent flash glare from windows?

babygodzilla

Hello,

We're in a restaurant and my subjects have glass windows behind their backs. I take the shot and it looks good, except for the flash's reflection on the window. How do I prevent this from happening?

Thanks

colourbox

Get the flash off the camera and outside the "family of angles."

Study "family of angles" in the book "Light, Science, and Magic"

The easy way is to never pose people in front of anything so reflective like glass, when a flash is involved. Get in the habit of looking for a matte wall background in those situations, not a window. If there must be a window, don't aim the camera at it straight on; setup the group so that you are shooting at an angle to the glass, an angle outside the family of angles.

adbsgicom

If you can't get the light off-camera, bounce your light behind you and to one side and up (if the ceilings are white-ish) so the light is coming from a place not straight-on. This makes your flash work harder, but the will be much more diffuse and worth doing if you can.

babygodzilla

adbsgicom wrote:

If you can't get the light off-camera, bounce your light behind you and to one side and up (if the ceilings are white-ish) so the light is coming from a place not straight-on. This makes your flash work harder, but the will be much more diffuse and worth doing if you can.

I actually had the flash bouncing to the ceiling the whole time, and still the reflection exists. I was using a diffuser, the default one that comes with the SB900. does this make a difference?

adbsgicom

babygodzilla wrote:

I actually had the flash bouncing to the ceiling the whole time, and still the reflection exists. I was using a diffuser, the default one that comes with the SB900. does this make a difference?

If you bounce, you shouldn't need a diffuser -- not sure what it looks like since I don't shoot Nikon. If it looks like a Stoffen omni-bounce that spills a bunch of light forward and you will still have the same issue. Either way, if you are shooting straight (relative to your lens) the light it still axial, and you get the reflection problems. Try shooting the light up and to the right (or left) behind you. If you are oriented at 0-degrees, shoot at 135-degrees and up 45 or 60 degrees. The reflected light from the ceiling is now off-axis and much more diffuse.

TonyCooper

The Nikon SB 900 does not come standard with a flash diffuser. The flash head rotates up 90 degrees for bounce flash, but any diffuser on the flash is a non-Nikon accessory (of which there are many available).

That said, many stores sell packages that may include a diffuser which may make the OP think the diffuser is part of the Nikon system. And, Nikon products purchased in countries other than the US may be different.

Diffusers are useful for softening the flash effect on the subject, but this is a problem from what is behind the subject. Too often, we forget to notice this.

babygodzilla

thanks for your responses.

this is what I use. is this not a diffuser?



this thing came with the unit that I bought on Amazon.

anyway, i still need a lot to learn about flash photography...

TonyCooper

babygodzilla wrote:

thanks for your responses.

this is what I use. is this not a diffuser?



this thing came with the unit that I bought on Amazon.

anyway, i still need a lot to learn about flash photography...

Yes, that's a diffuser. It looks like a Flashpoint Diffuser. It's not a Nikon product, but it's been added to your camera purchase as an accessory as part of a camera kit. Adding accessories to make up a "kit" is a standard practice by many sellers. It's a good accessory to have.

adbsgicom

This sort of diffuser thows light in all directions, though. It becomes a big white bulb on top of your flash. You need to keep light from spilling straight forward. Either flag the flash with some black foamcore:



Or make sure the flash is pointed away from your subject (as in pointed backwards).

MJRPHOTO

TonyCooper wrote:

Yes, that's a diffuser. It looks like a Flashpoint Diffuser. It's not a Nikon product, but it's been added to your camera purchase as an accessory as part of a camera kit. Adding accessories to make up a "kit" is a standard practice by many sellers. It's a good accessory to have.

Tony,
Every one of my (3) nikon flashes came with these diffusers. They are from Nikon. Not aftermarket.

Qarik

babygodzilla wrote:

Hello,

We're in a restaurant and my subjects have glass windows behind their backs. I take the shot and it looks good, except for the flash's reflection on the window. How do I prevent this from happening?

Thanks

with that diffuser you can not prevent reflected glare from the window:

Things to try next time:

1) hold your hand or dinner plate in of the flash
2) remove it in post processing
3) bounce complete away from window with no diffuser

pathfinder

If I HAD to keep the flash on my camera, (and in a public retaurant the patrons may get restless if you begin to set up a light stand near them), I would fire the flash to my right or left with maybe 15-20 degrees of elevation, with a barndoor on the forward edge of the flashtube assembly, so that the light reaching the subject would be coming from the right or left, and not from the axis of the lens or the shooting axis. This will minimize the light reflected from the windows, as any flash that hits the window will be very oblique and bounce away from the shooting axis. A gobo like this would work fine - Or you could hold a brown fedora alongside the flash and accomplish the same thing.

Like Quarik said!!

The_Fat_Zebra

That piece of black foam seems popular among the pros. I have to try that out! Recently I was taking pictures of some friends out for drinks and I had the problem of uneven bounce light spilling on them. It would probably help the OP as well.

Art Scott

babygodzilla wrote:

thanks for your responses.

this is what I use. is this not a diffuser?



this thing came with the unit that I bought on Amazon.

anyway, i still need a lot to learn about flash photography...

TonyCooper wrote:

Yes, that's a diffuser. It looks like a Flashpoint Diffuser. It's not a Nikon product, but it's been added to your camera purchase as an accessory as part of a camera kit. Adding accessories to make up a "kit" is a standard practice by many sellers. It's a good accessory to have.

Tony that is actually a Nikon Part....comes packaged with the SB 900 in the lower compartment of the protective bag and they (they as in the diffuser and gel holder) have actual Nikon Part numbers.....they are not add on's from 3rd party companies or retailers giving you supposed extras at inflated prices........

Nikon Tech Specs wrote:

Cut and pasted from the Nikon SB 900 page .........

• Supplied Accessories
  • AS-21 Speedlight Stand
  • SW-13H Diffusion Dome
  • SJ-900 Color Filter Set
  • SZ-2 Color Filter Holder
  • SS-900 Soft Case
  *Supplied accessories may differ depending on country or area.

Joe McNally even makes mention of the diffuser in his Hot Shoe Diaries .....as well as the other diffusers he uses regularly........

kevinpw

Qarik wrote:

with that diffuser you can not prevent reflected glare from the window:

Things to try next time:

1) hold your hand or dinner plate in of the flash
2) remove it in post processing
3) bounce complete away from window with no diffuser

thanks for your suggestions. I was just thinking of #3, and will try it next time. Thanks!

kevinpw

pathfinder wrote:

If I HAD to keep the flash on my camera, (and in a public retaurant the patrons may get restless if you begin to set up a light stand near them), I would fire the flash to my right or left with maybe 15-20 degrees of elevation, with a barndoor on the forward edge of the flashtube assembly, so that the light reaching the subject would be coming from the right or left, and not from the axis of the lens or the shooting axis. This will minimize the light reflected from the windows, as any flash that hits the window will be very oblique and bounce away from the shooting axis. A gobo like this would work fine - Or you could hold a brown fedora alongside the flash and accomplish the same thing.

Like Quarik said!!

im sorry, what's a barndoor?

pathfinder

A barn door is an opening into a barn to allow animals or tractors to enter or depart.

It is also a generic term for a black flat piece of material - foamcore, wood, canvas, aluminum etc - that can be used to prevent light from diverging from its source. I had the link to the Honl gobo in my post - http://www.honlphoto.com/servlet/the-7/strobist-speedlight-strobe-flash/Detail

photogreen

pathfinder wrote:

A barn door is an opening into a barn to allow animals or tractors to enter or depart.

It is also a generic term for a black flat piece of material - foamcore, wood, canvas, aluminum etc - that can be used to prevent light from diverging from its source. I had the link to the Honl gobo in my post - http://www.honlphoto.com/servlet/the-7/strobist-speedlight-strobe-flash/Detail

I'm with pathfinder on this. Honl gobo does the job. I recently got myseflt a pair of these (the barndoors ).

Also useful as a bounce card: Honl Photo Bounce Card / Gobo review

JohnBiggs

I've heard you can do neat tricks by polarizing your lights and your lens. Rosco Polarizing filter gels are about $40 for a sheet. Though I just found a company that sells sheets for $10.

I'll let you all know how this turns out.

Qarik

JohnBiggs wrote:

I've heard you can do neat tricks by polarizing your lights and your lens. Rosco Polarizing filter gels are about $40 for a sheet. Though I just found a company that sells sheets for $10.

I'll let you all know how this turns out.

polarize your flash in one dir and your lens in another direction..hmm sounds interesting. It depends on the boucne surface though..will the bounced light off an window still maintain the incoming polarization? off a perfect mirror maybe..I would think to some extent it would but not entirely.