Tutorial Zoo's. A beginners guide to shooting through mesh and glass

[Cobra]

Cobra submitted a new resource:

Zoo's. A beginners guide to shooting through mesh and glass - Zoo's A beginers guide to shooting through mesh and glass

Shooting through mesh is right PITA.
Especially if there are also stand off barriers, ie the best way is to put the lens hood
right up against the wire, and shoot through the "gap".

Narrow mesh is a real PITA!
This was shot through mesh, no more than 3/4 inch wide. (about 20mm)
With the lens hood up against the mesh.
If you look closely you can see it.
Luckily the enclosure was shaded and quite dark,
as was the interior. So f/2.8 and slightly over expose.
https://flic.kr/p/ooE8FS...

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[crusher]

Chris, I've just read your Beginner's Guide to shooting through mesh and glass............its an excellent read with loads of useful stuff. I thought I'd pass on a tip I got given years ago: I bought a cheap collapsible rubber lens hood from ebay and I use it when shooting through glass - it means you can put it right against the glass and cut out the reflections completely.

 

[rob-nikon]

An excellent guide Cobra. I too use a rubber hood, an excellent way to cut reflections on glass. I gave a friend that tip and he got some great sunset/night images from the shard. Another thing is forget the lens hood so you are as close as possible to the mesh. The image below was taken through the lower double mesh at BWC (and dare I say it with a Hoya HD protective filter to stop the front element from scratches without the hood on), you can see some marks of the mesh in the bokeh on the left and right but I was surprised it didn't show up more.


Otter- BWC by Rob'81, on Flickr

 

[Cobra]

Chris, I've just read your Beginner's Guide to shooting through mesh and glass............its an excellent read with loads of useful stuff. I thought I'd pass on a tip I got given years ago: I bought a cheap collapsible rubber lens hood from ebay and I use it when shooting through glass - it means you can put it right against the glass and cut out the reflections completely.

Thanks Keith
The reason I didn't mention rubber as a hood, is that it you put pressure on in it can collapse on the the glass
and skid . But its a good tip if you are careful

Another thing is forget the lens hood so you are as close as possible to the mesh. The image below was taken through the lower double mesh at BWC (and dare I say it with a Hoya HD protective filter to stop the front element from scratches without the hood on), you can see some marks of the mesh in the bokeh on the left and right but I was surprised it didn't show up more.

Obviously that is personal choice, but as not everyone is prepared to use a few quids worth of filter
of a couple of grand lens, the hood is there to protect the front element as much as anything,
or a slightly "petalled hood can be locked on to the wire mesh for stability.

 

[big soft moose]

Thanks Keith
The reason I didn't mention rubber as a hood, is that it you put pressure on in it can collapse on the the glass
and skid . But its a good tip if you are careful
.

I fold mine over back on itself so that I just have a short rubber ring slightly protruding in front of the lens so that i can put it against the glass without worry about it collapsing or skidding

 

[LCPete]

Just read this Chris really good
As you say it's the stand off fences in front of the wire thats the problem
I lean over the fence as much as I can and try to wait until the animal is far enough away from the fence as you say when the subject is close to the wire its impossible to blur the wire

 

[CanonLady]

I too use a rubber hood, an excellent way to cut reflections on glass. I gave a friend that tip and he got some great sunset/night images from the shard.

Great idea! I'll try and get a rubber hood so next time I go to the Shard I can get better images. Thanks!