Shooting though double glazed window
 

Everything I have read about shooting through a window is that you should be square-on and right up against the glass.The shots below were taken yesterday from my PC desk looking out to my garden, I was about 2 foot away from the glass and shooting at about 35 degrees to the window and yet they look reasonable to me. I have tried shooting square-on and right up to the window but they never come out as good.
Anyone else have any thought on this subject ?

Fabulous shots Roy, I never bother anymore about making sure I am square to the windows, if I see a shot I take it. If there is any loss in quality its usually to do with the contrast and this can be corrected on the PC.
You can get a little bit of loss like you see on the eye of your first photo but usually that's because of to acute an angle to the glass, on yours I think the hawk moved its head just at the wrong moment rather than the window angle.

looks rather like what Lesley has recently posted as a Red Kite?
http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...user=1822&sl=l
But to get back to question it is going to vary a lot according to relative light levels each side and recent double glazing usually has coatings - if you can get as good as this, full marks for taking opportunity and carry on

That would be really exciting to get a Red Kite in my garden Chris but unfortunately it is just a Sparrowhawk.

Great shots.the only way to take photos at the moment!!!!

Wish i had a sparrowhawk in my garden i wouldnt be saying unfortunately..:D ...lol..Roy..can you imagine the fun i will have..by the way it is a excellent shot no question about it..i tried shoting against the glass with my kowa..got a glassed looking picture.Regards and thanks for sharing your experince.

Through the double glazed window
 

May I say my wife and I have been taking pictures through the living room double glazed window beside the computer ever since they were installed two years ago and we're excited with the results. We have our feeding station right outside and the nearest feeder is just two yards away from the cameras. The birds have got used to seeing us and feed quite happily. With thirty two species of birds seen from these windows throughout the year we think its better for our old bones than sitting in a cold bird hide.
Here are some pictures we took today.
Tanny.

Excellent shots, Roy. I usually don't take shots through the window because I find a real loss in sharpness. I also find that autofocus doesn't work and I have trouble getting sharp shots on manual. If I cleaned the window it might help.;)

Nice shots there Roy.

I'm the forum newbie and also a SLR newbie. I hadn't really thought about taking shots through the window as I thought I'd just get a reflection from it.

You have given me the inspiration to attempt it as I also have a bird table just outside my living room window, which also attracts a squirrel. :)

Apart from using curtains, switching lights off indoors, and general things to minimise inside reflections on the glass, I've also found in the past that a nice big rubber lens hood to almost 'sucker' onto the window helps.
On a slightly different tangent, but reflection issues related....I traditionally blacked out the white writing on the front of lenses. Fortunately, more recently some lenses (particularly Canon) have that white text on the outside front edge of the barrel now. It's something I found years ago affected my pictures (not sure how much it does with my current gear), where I narrowed it down the the white text being reflected back on the protective filters mounted on the front of the lenses!....I guess the same applies when the lens is up against glass, even if you don't use protective filters.
Black marker pen that I know I can wipe off without wiping off the white text too is a good idea, I'm personally not the biggest fan of using messy tape.....particularly if you think you might be re-selling the lenses at a later date?