Shooting Through Wire

Skippy

Today I went out to an Animal Rehab Centre not far from where I live, it's not very big, and most of the animals have been injured at some stage, and are there to hopefully be re-released at a later date.

They had this beautiful Owl........ I seem to think the Owl has been there for many years, because I am sure I have seen this same Owl there before.

Unfortunately their cages have really tiny mesh, and it made it too hard to take photos of most of the birds there, but this one turned out rather well considering the Owl is completely behind this wire mesh.

Enjoy........... Skippy (Australia)

Andy

just great skippy so, how are you getting on? that 70-200 f/2.8L i.s. is just a super piece o glass, innit?

Skippy

Hey there Mr Williams

andy wrote:

just great skippy so, how are you getting on? that 70-200 f/2.8L i.s. is just a super piece o glass, innit?

Uhhhhhhhu it sure is I LOVE it..........and now that I have a very dirty sensor I need to learn how to clean it, and where to get the stuff from to do that.

I love the 50mm 1.4 too Andy that is one amazing piece of Glass too, and great for shooting inside.......... I love the way the Canon 20D can be pushed to such high ISO settings and still give a very very pleasing result.

Thank you very much Andy........now have you looked at every picture in your new book yet?? Skippy (Australia)

Andy

Skippy wrote:

Uhhhhhhhu it sure is I LOVE it..........and now that I have a very dirty sensor I need to learn how to clean it, and where to get the stuff from to do that.

I love the 50mm 1.4 too Andy that is one amazing piece of Glass too, and great for shooting inside.......... I love the way the Canon 20D can be pushed to such high ISO settings and still give a very very pleasing result.

Thank you very much Andy........now have you looked at every picture in your new book yet?? Skippy (Australia)

skippy, check out this thread for sensor cleaning ideas .

yeah, fast glass is great! i just switched from the 35L f/1.4 to the 24 f/1.4L. i love fast glass!

the book is great, skippy, i look at it frequently. can't wait to get to oz

windoze

i love big eyes - nice capture through the wire!


troy

Skippy wrote:

Today I went out to an Animal Rehab Centre not far from where I live, it's not very big, and most of the animals have been injured at some stage, and are there to hopefully be re-released at a later date.

They had this beautiful Owl........ I seem to think the Owl has been there for many years, because I am sure I have seen this same Owl there before.

Unfortunately their cages have really tiny mesh, and it made it too hard to take photos of most of the birds there, but this one turned out rather well considering the Owl is completely behind this wire mesh.

Enjoy........... Skippy (Australia)

Harryb

Hey Skippy,

Great shot. How wide was your aperture to deal with that mesh?

wxwax

Harryb wrote:

Hey Skippy,

Great shot. How wide was your aperture to deal with that mesh?

That's an interesting question, Harry. I had assumed that by zooming, the fence would disappear regardless of aperature, if the fence was close to the lens. Andy posted a link to a chart that help define this sort of thing. Here's the link on hyperfocal distances. I reckon it's relevant.

Dixie

wxwax wrote:

That's an interesting question, Harry. I had assumed that by zooming, the fence would disappear regardless of aperature, if the fence was close to the lens. Andy posted a link to a chart that help define this sort of thing. Here's the link on hyperfocal distances. I reckon it's relevant.

Sid, you are correct in that the hyperfocal distance does come into play with this shot. The hyperfocal distance in this case was at the owl's face.

I think that Harry was making the point that the aperture was set with a low f/stop creating a narrow depth of field (also evidenced by the fact that the focus is fairly narrow on the owl as it drops out to rear of the owl's head). The more you stop down the greater the depth of field. If the photo had been taken with a high f/stop, the fence mesh may have come into fuzzy focus. This would have been distracting even if not in sharp focus.

Therefore, the closer you can get to the mesh and still maintain your hyperfocal distance to the subject the more likely you are to take out any vestiges of the mesh even as you increase the depth of field.

pathfinder

Dixie wrote:

Sid, you are correct in that the hyperfocal distance does come into play with this shot. The hyperfocal distance in this case was at the owl's face.

I think that Harry was making the point that the aperture was set with a low f/stop creating a narrow depth of field (also evidenced by the fact that the focus is fairly narrow on the owl as it drops out to rear of the owl's head). The more you stop down the greater the depth of field. If the photo had been taken with a high f/stop, the fence mesh may have come into fuzzy focus. This would have been distracting even if not in sharp focus.

Therefore, the closer you can get to the mesh and still maintain your hyperfocal distance to the subject the more likely you are to take out any vestiges of the mesh even as you increase the depth of field.

I think the reason the image was sharp is that the mesh was very small and the lens was very close to the mesh - kind of like shooting through screen wire?. If this had been large chain link mesh, it might not have succeeded.

Adrian van Ammers

Hi Skippy

Skippy wrote:

Today I went out to an Animal Rehab Centre not far from where I live, it's not very big, and most of the animals have been injured at some stage, and are there to hopefully be re-released at a later date.

They had this beautiful Owl........ I seem to think the Owl has been there for many years, because I am sure I have seen this same Owl there before.

Unfortunately their cages have really tiny mesh, and it made it too hard to take photos of most of the birds there, but this one turned out rather well considering the Owl is completely behind this wire mesh.

Enjoy........... Skippy (Australia)

Nice to meet you here. I started to post a few days ago and feel at ease already with all these old buddies here.:D
Neat owl you show us here. OMG do I really have to buy a 20D to get such amazing results : And all this fast glass, hehe. I will end up broke, but a happy photographer.

Dixie

pathfinder wrote:

I think the reason the image was sharp is that the mesh was very small and the lens was very close to the mesh - kind of like shooting through screen wire?. If this had been large chain link mesh, it might not have succeeded.

You're right. The gauge of the wire can definitely make a difference as well as the tightness of the weave. I have successfully shot through chain link fence as well. It's best to average if you do so or if you spot you will need to subtract a 1/3 to a half an f/stop because the fence will steal some light. Also, make sure that there are no light hot spots on the fence or you will see them as a flare.

Skippy

Hey there Troy

windoze wrote:

i love big eyes - nice capture through the wire!

He was just sitting their watching me......you know that feeling that someone's watching you hehehe, I need to go to the Zoo I really do.

Take Care Troy.......... Skippy (Australia)

Skippy

Hi Harry
:

Harryb wrote:

Hey Skippy,

Great shot. How wide was your aperture to deal with that mesh?

I was using the Canon 70-200mm at 2.8 at the time, struggling to swat the mosquito's that were trying to bite me, but the little buggars got me :cry

Funny how 2.8 worked quite well with the Owl, but I couldnt get it to work with a small eagle probably also had to do with how far away from the wire the bird was too.........at the Zoo in Melbourne you can walk inside the Bird Avery with them and avoid shooting through wire or mesh.

Take Care Harry ....... Skippy (Australia)

Skippy

Hi Adrian

Adrian van Ammers wrote:

Nice to meet you here. I started to post a few days ago and feel at ease already with all these old buddies here.:D
Neat owl you show us here. OMG do I really have to buy a 20D to get such amazing results : And all this fast glass, hehe. I will end up broke, but a happy photographer.

Adrian I am so happy with the Canon 20D and the three lenses I have so far....I use that term "so far" because I want more yup I'm sure this hobby will keep me broke and I am sure it must keep a lot of other folks broke too.

Ahhhhhhhhhh but it's sooooooooo much FUN Take Care Adrian
Skippy (Australia)

Skippy

About the Mesh Wire Fence

pathfinder wrote:

I think the reason the image was sharp is that the mesh was very small and the lens was very close to the mesh - kind of like shooting through screen wire?. If this had been large chain link mesh, it might not have succeeded.

Ohhhhhhh gosh you guys get so technical sometimes I read a post and think ohhhhhhh dear I'm out of my depth here

The Wire Mesh fencing at the Park is almost square in shape, not on an angle to give that Diamond shape but distinct squares, some looks like its been painted or choated "BLACK" other cages were not coated with "Black"

The square holes looked smaller than ONE INCH Squares, but bigger than HALF INCH, the Sparrows could not get through it.

Wire is quite annoying to shoot through, but it's there for a reason :
I need to go up to Melbourne Zoo, because there you can go inside the Avery with the birds, it's a beautiful enclosure and really big, very well designed.

I have lots to learn, and I'm having fun doing it Skippy (Australia)