Through the Fence

[RecurrentNerve]

Took a couple of pictures at a small zoo this weekend and thought it was a good opportunity to illustrate a lesson for beginners, namely, taking shots through zoo cages without getting the bars in the shot.


Green Macaw


Laughing Thrush

These were taken with the following settings:

1/320
f/5.6
ISO 500 (a cloudy day)

The key here is the wide open aperture, which creates a shallow depth of field. This, coupled with placing the lens right up to the fence (carefully; I use a rubber lens hood to help protect the lens), means that the cage wires were focussed right out of the shot. Your camera autofocus might struggle to recognise where you want the focus to be, so be sure to use Spot autofocus to home in on the subject.

The open aperture can mean that parts of your subject can be out of focus, however; note the tail and feet in the Macaw shot. It's generally best to focus on the eyes of your subject in these situations.

[ShantDotMe]

very nice!!

[RecurrentNerve]

Thank you!

[bbtom10]

Could you share what focal length were you using?

[z0mbina80]

I will have to make an excuse to go to the local zoo so i can try this out... i always wondered how people did that haha. Great idea, tfs ^^ Beautiful birds too! I love the green of the first one

[cucurbi]

Thanks for the interesting tip. Those cages can ruin a picture pretty easily when you don't know how to photograph them!

[RecurrentNerve]

Could you share what focal length were you using?

Around 50mm I believe, the exact same lens as yours, Nikkor 18-55mm kit. The image is cropped quite a bit which perhaps gives an impression of a long lens...I wish I could afford one!

[bbtom10]

Thanks - they're great shots and its a really good tip - nice to know I can try this myself!

Thanks

Tom

[PROFusioNZ]

Beautiful shots and great tips! Will use this soon. Too bad for the lady in the second one.

[amh]

Great shots and tutorial! Thanks for sharing.