So you’re driving through Southern Utah – say, toward Monument Valley – when you look up from your road atlas and there before you lies the awesome beauty of one of the greatest wonders of the natural world. You are so excited to document the awesome that you throw your road atlas on the dashboard, reach for camera, and start mashing down the shutter button, because you don’t want to miss anything! Bad idea: the time and place for shooting photos through the windshield is: almost never.
Holy crap, it's Monument Valley! Quick, get the camera, put it on AUTO, and take as many bad photos as you can!
First of all, it’s dangerous: anything that takes your attention away from driving is hazardous to your health and to that of others. Even though we humans have gotten pretty good at multitasking, we are still fragile meatsacks full of squishy organs which are simply no match for the impact resistance of the steel our automobiles are made of and the pavement upon which we drive them.
Second of all, it’s silly: why would you spend upwards of a thousand dollars on a camera and even more on a lens built from several elements of precision ground chemically treated painstakingly polished optical glass designed to resolve details down to ten-thousandths of an inch only to stick it in front of a slab of material streaked with dirt and bug innards?
It's perfectly acceptable to shoot through this windshield. I shot this near Monument Valley in 2007.
The time and place for shooting through the windshield is almost never but there are countless artistic exceptions and commercial applications for this perspective – the automotive and travel industries comes to mind. As such, there are certainly a few things you can do to improve your “shooting through the windshield technique.” If you feel a mighty need to squeeze off a few shots from the interior of your vehicle, remember this rule:
The rules of composition still apply.
Look, if you want to shoot something scenic, shoot something scenic. The fact that we see it from the perspective of the right side of the road already indicates that it might be shot through the windshield – no need to clutter it with nonessential elements like that dashboard, that smear of snow in the path of the wiper, that inspection sticker, that rearview mirror, that pair of fuzzy dice, that whatever it is that has nothing to do with the scene you are photographing.
This is a great shot if you are going for that "too lazy to get out of the truck" snapshot look.
If you’re going to do something wrong, do it right: the best technique for shooting an image through a windshield that doesn’t look like it was shot through a windshield is to put the camera as close to the glass as possible so that it will not have a chance to “see” the interior of your vehicle or the artifacts on the glass. This will also reduce the glare and the reflection of the interior of the vehicle, the occupants, or the camera which might otherwise appear in the photo.
Unless you live on the polar caps, the middle of the ocean, or the Llano Estacado, composition is largely a subtractive process. Remove elements of the image that do not belong in order to emphasize those that do.
Where's the dashboard and the bug stains and the inspection sticker? This feels too much like an actual photo!
Long exposures in moving vehicles can yield interesting results. What outmoded emo band wouldn’t scrape together a few dollars to buy the image below from iStock for their next CD of whiny music about how nobody loved them in high school?
If you can mount the camera on your dashboard as you drive down a lighted street, you’ll get streaks of light as smooth as your ride can offer. If you handhold and wiggle around, you’ll get wiggly streaks. Remember the camera tossing fad? Same deal with less tossing.
A color graded long exposure through the windshield: favorite of crybaby emo bands with daddy issues.
Most windshield glass is tinted darker toward the top in order to protect the driver from the sun’s evil glare. What does this mean to you? It means your automobile comes standard with a Horizontal ND Grad Filter which is great if you aren’t shooting straight into the sun as it illuminates every head, thorax, and abdomen to have slammed into your vehicle for the last 300 miles.
Sun star: check. ND grad filter windshield: check. Wiper-smeared bug guts: check. A Project 365 masterpiece.
As a photographer, ask yourself: “Does the world really need this photo I’m about to take through my windshield?” That answer is probably no.
As a photographer on assignment, ask yourself: “Do I want to garner a reputation as a photographer who cannot be bothered to leave the vehicle for a shot?” That answer is definitely no.
As an artist, ask yourself: “Can I get away with axe murder in broad daylight as long as my artist statement serves to justify my poor technique?” That answer is definitely yes, a little bullshit goes a long way:
“This piece is a metaphor of how the barriers we erect to protect ourselves inescapably define our perspective of reality.”
With an artist statement like that you’re sure to secure a grant or win an award from an organization or individual whose perspective undoubtedly escapes any definition of reality.
100% Windshield Free Nature. I shot this at Monument Valley in 2007. Outside my vehicle.
Hey, if you do get the chance to visit Monument Valley, for the love of all that’s good and right in this world: get out of the car to shoot. At the very least, roll the window down.
