hard work being a cat

[Bootsy]

a couple of shots from a great day at banham zoo.using a 40D, 70-200 F4 lens and processed with lightroom3.most of my shots that day were though chain link fencing and cages which i found a bit tricky.so any pointers on shooting though chain link fencing,glass and cages would be great.c&c welcome

[JohnC]

Lovely shots,Paul.I assume these were taken through some kind of barrier ? I've photographed aircraft through fencing and putting the camera lens (without the hood) on the wire will throw it out of focus so you don't see it and for these shots a wide aperture f2.8 f4 f5.6 will do the same. For glass you need to do away with reflection so a 45 degree angle will help, no flash,you could try a polariser too and get close to the glass, I'd be trying a shot or two on manual focus too.

[Dave Humphries]

John's advice is good, adding my thoughts;
Have something to clean the glass (only on 'your' side!)
When shooting at an angle, as John suggests, beware other patrons wearing bright clothes causing a reflection at 45 degrees to you, especially if they are sunlit.
Talking of which, avoid shooting when the sun is shining on the glass (or wire), especially from the other side.
I always do at least two circuits of a zoo, visiting the enclosures about 3 hours apart so I can shoot through each with optimum lighting conditions - the sun will have moved 45 degrees (half a right angle) in that time.
Now all you need is well trained animals to 'perform' when you're there

Nice shots,

[rpcrowe]

Nice shots showing these beautiful animals. I am very fortunate in living close to both the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The animal enclosures in both these venues are very natural looking and photo friendly.

As far as shooting through wire, using your largest aperture and shooting as close to the wire as possible will often minimize the wire.



As far as shooting through glass. Placing the camera as close to the cleanest (and less scratched) portion of the glass (which is usually a Plesiglass-like material) will avoid reflections to a large degree. Using a rubber folding lens hood pressed against the glass will also minimize or even eliminate the reflections.



Shoot in RAW so you can adjust the color balance...