Bars and fences at Zoo's

Rob87

Rob87

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Name
Rob
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Afternoon
I have come back from Whipsnade Zoo today and have come across a problem. I really struggled to get shots through the fences and cages. I could zoom past the enough to get the majority of the fencing and wire out but looking back at the photos when I got home you could still see some shadowing. A good example is like the below. You can see the shadowing about a third of the way in from the left of the photo. Does anyone know how to get around this for when I go to my next zoo as I would like nice clear shots of the animals.


Brown Bear by Forsyth1987, on Flickr
 
Cobra is the Whipsnade expert here Rob ;)
Best opening the aperture right up and getting as close as you can to any wire, even touching it if you can. The bears give ample opportunities to shoot them over the fence, although not quite eye level, which is what I gues you were going for here. Looking at your flickr, I only really notice the tier shot that suffers in the same way and I can't really help with that because of the distance of the fence from the barrier ... helps not to have the sun shining on it though.
 
Its a shame that to get the bears on a reasonable level you have to shoot through the bars.
What focal length do you shoot with?
Its possible (if long enough, 200 -300mm ) to stand down the other end of the pen and shoot along it.
that way they are almost appear to be on the same level.

Bright sunlight on wire is a nightmare, try and shoot through wire with you back to the sun.
Same goes for glass, into the sun, or sideways on to the sun,
ie across glass, will show every little mark / imperfection on the OTHER SIDE of the glass,
and there is bugger all you can do about it.
Save trying to shoot from a different angle.

As Neil said if you can shoot at 2.8, through wire, you stand a better chance.
Also when shooting through glass make sure you have a lens hood on, and press that right up against the glass.
And put your hand around any gaps, if its not "dead on" this will negate any reflections.

Oh and one other tip, always wear dark cloths when shooting through glass.
You must have seen the amount of reflection that the kids wearing pink produce.
(not that I am suggesting that you were wearing pink BTW :D )

Hope that helps?
 
I was using my 55-250mm lens so the aperture isn't the best. I knew about dark clothing and glass, but some fantastic tips there that I hadn't even considered (lens hood, positioning against the sun etc). Looks like I can spend some pennies on my camera before I go to the zoo next time and I think I will need to leave the niece at home as well so she doesn't get bored waiting for Uncle Rob to get some good shots in.

Sound advice as always. Cheers guys :)
 
No worries :)
TBH the 55 - 250 is a capable lens, the 2.8 aperture, really helps,
but its not essential.
You will learn to work around it, with practice, it took me months if not years to actually "get it cracked"
Even so I screw up quite badly sometimes, they just never get posted :D

TBH, you would be better off going on your own, that way you can practice different settings, different angles, techniques etc.
without worrying about what your niece is doing.
I don't mind meeting you up there, sometime, I go loads.
 
Might be worth experimenting with a rubber hood so you can get it almost sealed against the glass. Check to make sure it doesn't cause vignetting and if it does, try folding it back a bit until it doesn't.
You can sometimes reduce the impact of wire close to you by moving slightly so the centre of the lens is looking through the centre of a hole. The longer the lens the better this works.
Lastly, where there are fences, they're often unavoidable. You can try shifting a bit so the background is more natural or crop/PP unnatural looking BGs out but too much can look as bad as a bit of fence - besides, everyone knows they're behind wire anyway!
Where there's glass, there's kid snot... If you're lucky, a parent hasn't lifted the snot bucket up so there's usually a clear(ish!) strip near the top of the glass but Nod's law dictates that that area's scratched on the dangerous side (or covered in muddy paw prints!)
There are some zoos where the animals are behind high walls and moats so it's possible to get a clear shot without wire in between you and the subjects but there's often fencing on the other sides so it'll be in the background. Look out for "enrichment" equipment too - ropes, nets etc. abound in some ape/monkey enclosures and look as natural as fencing!
Don't forget to use the old Mk1 eyeball and grey matter memory as well as whatever camera you're carrying! While the camera can catch a moment in time, what you imagine you can hear and smell is all in the mind, not on screen/paper.
 
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