Lemur at the Zoo

[Tobias]

I took this Photo at the Zoo and was wondering how i could make taking photos through cages better?

Exif data
Camera Canon EOS 350D Digital
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 214 mm
ISO Speed 400

[Exiztence]

Maybe you could try to use a smaller aperture so the fence will be less in focus.
Otherwise get closer and try to shoot through the gap.
Or look for an other place to shoot from, dunno... climb up a tree and shoot over the fence

anyway, I kinda like the photo as it is. I get something like: "Hey, you there! On the other side of the fence!"

[mrteacherdude]

Fences are tough to deal with. I think I got a decent shot of a leopard behind a fence at a wild animal park, but I was relatively close to the fence, the leopard was quite a long way from the fence, I used the widest aperture available to me, the longest focal length available to me, and made sure I focused on the leopard and not the fence.

I can tell the lemur in your photo is pretty close to the fence as I can see the end of his nose and the fence are both in pretty good focus. Unfortunately, I don't think you can really eliminate the fence under these circumstances. I'm guessing from your exif data that you're using a kit lens so probably don't have much aperture room at that focal length. I'm not even sure if going to a lower aperture and making sure you are focusing on the eyes (more behind the fence) would soften the fence that much. But I don't have a lot of experience with through the fence shots, so I'm not sure. Hopefully someone else can comment on this aspect.

Otherwise, I rather like the shot. In some way I think the focused fence and unfocused eyes actually adds something to the shot, but I don't know if I can articulate why. Perhaps it emphasizes, to me, some concept of being captive.