What to do about cages/wires/glass

srichards

srichards

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Suz
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I've only been to a zoo once to take photos. Most shots were difficult with auto focus as the camera would focus on the cage and not on the subject... manual focus was better but I'm not great at getting it right. Is there any easy way of getting the focus right manually from within the view finder?

Cages getting in the way ruined every picture of everything behind wires. Even focusing on distance to try and blur the wires but they were still intrusive. Is there a trick like choosing certain angles so that the auto focus can still work and the wires are generally blurry enough not to be a problem? I did try incorporating the wires and trying to make them a feature but that didn't work that well either.

Only pictures that turned out any good were ones taken where the animals were free to roam in low walled enclosures.

Cage wire still visible but quite blurred. Just enough to be really annoying.



Geese I think - no cage. Look ok.



Token meerkat:



Went mad with the meerkats. Must have taken dozens. They were so cute. Much smaller than they look on tv.
 
Quick question, what camera and lens you using ?
 
Oops. Should have mentioned it's a sony alpha 350 and the lens is an older sigma 28-300. 2003/2004 vintage if not earlier.
 
To be completely honest if going to a million zoo's has taught me anything it's that sometimes it just isn't going to happen. Some enclosures just don't lend themselves to photography.

Having said that I'm only working with a 55-200 lens. Sometimes I find a mono conversion helps to mask wires in the shot but there may be other tips people can give you.
 
Through glass :-
You need to be straight on to the subject (mostly)
use a lens hood and push it up against the glass
and wrap your hand around the hood the best you can, to exclude any other light.
This helps to cut down on the possibility of ( most) reflections
But also be aware of people around you wearing bright clothes, especially if you are shooting
at a bit of an angle.
And obviously look for a clean piece of glass ;)

Through wire :-
Again be as straight as possible to the subject
try an avoid bright sunlight as this reflects the wire and makes it stand out.
Push the lens hood up against the wire ( I know this is not always possible)
and be aware of wire crossing through the field of view.

If you cant get right up against the wire, then use the largest aperture you have available
ideally f/2.8 to "focus through" the wire.
But obviously this will play havoc with your depth of field.

And as Fi has said,
sometimes it just ain't gonna happen, unfortunately.
There are too many variables working against you ;)

I hope that helps a little at least (y)
 
If the animal is close to the cage wire the wire will be visible but if the animal is over about 4 mts away and you hold the lens close to the wire the wire should be almost invisible .Sometimes the camera will try to focus on the
Wire so you need to keep half pressing the shutter until it focuses on the animal or use manual focus.
3451681093_0db3655299.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37430658@N04/
 
Wire- The closer you can get to the wire and the further away the subject the better. Large aperture can be a drawback however, but necessary. It's a bit hit and miss as said above. Images can be a bit soft as a result.

Here the best I could do recently. Low light conditions were a problem for me too so overall I had to be happy.

Tiger wants dinner. Me? by Doog E, on Flickr
 
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srichards, i have the same problem as you with the wires and i thought it was just me doing something wrong. i even gave up completely taking the photo's through the glass as every single shot i took was blury or reflected someone from behind me. it got to the point were i ended up going to some zoo's and just watched the animals all day rather than take any photo's. if you like taking photo's of eagles/hawks etc etc then i can recomend EAGLE HIEGHTS just a few miles from BRANDS HATCH race circuit, they let their birds fly free for most of the day and a majority of the birds are just teatherd and not behind any wires or glass. the best bit is that they have a cheeta that they let run free.

cheers

jonee
 
jonee said:
......... it got to the point were i ended up going to some zoo's and just watched the animals all day rather than take any photo's.......... cheers

jonee
Click to expand...

Don't give up, practice practice practice!
everyone feels like that when they start but you'll get there (y)
Taken through Glass
CLICK_ME

Taken through wire CLICK_ME
There are loads more but thats just the recent ones
 
Cobra said:
Don't give up, practice practice practice!
everyone feels like that when they start but you'll get there (y)
Taken through Glass
CLICK_ME

Taken through wire CLICK_ME
There are loads more but thats just the recent ones
Click to expand...

thanks for the uplifting advise. i realy thought i was going mad as i had been taking semi reasonable photo's in the garden and on walks through the country and at a few raptor rescue centres. i did give up on the zoo thing for a while and even brought my self a 100mm macro lens and stayed in the back garden getting to know my herd of slugs and snails :) i am now planning a return to the zoo thing to put into practice the advice given to me by the people from this site, cheers guys.


jonee
 
Lol John, yep we all get that feeling, zoos can be very frustrating :wacky: Keep an eye on the meetings forum and you might find something happening near you, there's always plenty of people willing to give advice and help others out :D
 
birdy961 said:
This thread may also be of use to you(y)


http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=245872
Click to expand...

Thread was great. I'll have to go again next year and have another go. There was someone else there taking photos and they were right up against the cage wires. Now I know why :D

I was wondering whether a polariser would help any with glass reflections. The ideal solution might be to have one of those old fashioned black sheets they used to use with large plate cameras. You'd look a plank but I'm sure shots through glass would look much better.
 
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