taking skyline pics at nite from tall buildings?

Question

so i've recently been in some tall buildings in Chi trying to take some glorious nite shots. how the heck does one do this without having blurred lights or reflections from the glass (even without a flash). i set my camera on a box and set the shutter speed slow (and used the self timer to avoid shake) but it still didn't work. help please!

Answer 1

you are correct about the glass reflections. the only way to eliminate that is to get a black towel taped to the glass and bring back to the lens. check with security first, it is unlikely they will let you do this, but it is a good trick for other occasions when you shoot through glass,. some obnoxious glares can be removed in photoshop, either with blur brush or dark spray paint.

it is possible the light blur is actually because the building is moving and not your camera. a wind free day in chicago is hard to come by and tall buildings do move. using an extreme wideangle setting will help in either case.

Answer 2

if its windy it is going to shake the box. find a heavy tripod. and if you are using digital you can put the mirror up before the self timer goes off. the mirror slapping the top or bottom of the camera will shake the camera a bit. self timer good.