I love traveling and I do so very often. Sometimes I choose organized bus tours where in those moments, you don’t always have the freedom to stop wherever you want. You see incredible landscapes, perfect light, beautiful scenes and all you have is a bus window. So we try taking a photo through the glass.
It’s not a perfect shot, but it works if you are aware of a few things. The biggest challenge is reflections, not the glass itself. I usually press my lens close to the window, block it with my hand or clothing, and try to sit on the darker side. Even small lights inside the bus can ruin the shot. A polarizing filter helps because it reduces reflections and makes colors deeper but it’s not magic, so positioning still matters…. Because everything is moving, I keep my shutter speed fast (at least 1/500) and don’t worry too much about ISO. I’d rather have a bit of noise than miss the moment. I also watch my focus carefully, because sometimes the camera locks onto the glass instead of the view outside.
If the window is tinted, the colors can shift, usually toward green or blue. Shooting in RAW makes it easy to fix later with white balance. You can’t always remove reflections completely in editing, but you can soften them. And sometimes, they even add something interesting to the image.
For me, shooting through glass isn’t a limitation, it’s part of the journey. It’s about catching the moment, even when you can’t stop.