Shooting through a fence

[singlerosa]

My wife and I attended the STL Cardinals game on 5/11 and they retired Tony LaRussa's jersey number 10. Our seats were in the 11th row behind home plate about 100 yards from the ceremony. We were about 20 yards behind the protective fence/screen that is at every ballpark. I was very disappointed in my lask of skills in dealing with the fence. Plus, the autofocus on my 80-200 2.8D kept jumping between the fince and the ceremony, so I ended up shooting manual focus.

Any suggestions on how i could have improved on this? Shot at 200mm 1400iso, f6.7 1/250sec Sorry for thumbnail only. Having problems understing instructions for posting full sized pics.

Mod insert:

[FrankMi]

About the only thing you can do is keep the DoF as shallow as possible so that the fence is as much out of focus as you can get it.

[WJT]

I would think that F:2.8 would get rid of the foreground more. Also, 1400 ISO was probably not necessary. You probably could have got away with a lot better quality by using a bigger aperture, slower shutter speed and about 400 IS (I think). I hope this helps.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi singlerosa,

In addition to the good advice from Frank and Wayne, I'd suggest levelling it by making the lecturn and mic stands vertical.

The bit you must be having trouble with is this;
Part 2: How to make an attached thumbnail appear larger and inline

1) Click the image to make it bigger
2) Right-click on the image and select "Copy Image Location" (in Firefox) or "Copy Shortcut" (in IE)
3) Click "Edit Post" and position the cursor where you want the image to appear, then use the "Insert Image" icon and Paste (Ctrl+V) the shortcut into the dialog and click "OK"
4) Click "Save Changes" button.

Sometimes I find it goes to a new page when I do step 1), which means I need to insert a new step 2a) which is to use the browser Back button to get back to the post before I can do 3).

I have done it for you above, but hope you get it gripped next time.

Could I ask you to edit your Profile and add a first name inot the Real Name field please?
Also your rough where-abouts in Location?
as time goes on, this helps us answer questions.

Welcome to the CiC forums from ...

[singlerosa]

I shot most at 2.8 and it didn't make a difference other than make focusing more difficult. Also, I was shooting auto iso, which ranged from 280-1400.

[bedantabd]

Plus, the autofocus on my 80-200 2.8D kept jumping between the fince and the ceremony, so I ended up shooting manual focus.

Hi Jim, you can still use the auto-focus by selecting a single point focus and placing it on somebody's face through the fence.

[WJT]

I shot most at 2.8 and it didn't make a difference other than make focusing more difficult. Also, I was shooting auto iso, which ranged from 280-1400.

Jim, its just my opinion but auto ISO setting is the last resort for me. I would only use it if there was little or no light. If you did get a picture which you wanted to use at 1400 ISO your options would be limited regarding printing it. I would assess the light and find the best possible quality ISO setting and then use AV 2.8 with about 125 SS. all the best.

[rpcrowe]

I use auto ISO only when (for some reason) I feel that I need to keep the shutter speed and the f/stop constant. I will then shoot in Manual and let the exposure be determined by the camera adjusting the ISO. This is most often when shooting action when I want to keep the shutter speed at a certain minmum to stop action and at the same time want to keep the f/stop at a cartain point (often at its widest opening to ensure the most narrow DOF)

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/020...for-canon-slrs

[DavidM]

I had a similar problem here. This was taken in a zoo through a mesh fence. I tried to get the fence out of focus by using the widest aperture and using single point focus through the fence, but you can see it.



1/1000 sec, F5, ISO 400, 160mm

[drjuice]

Wow, DavidM, that's an excellent picture of BigBoy and his lady friend (is she an albino?) even though you can see the fence a bit. That you were able to get so much of it to disappear is excellent. I for critters and flowers, I normally shoot single focus, particularly when I'm shooting small critters. I took one picture of a fence skink (teeny lizard about two inch long body and a three inch long tail) about 8 years ago (on film) that's still one of the best pictures I've ever taken.

v

[DanK]

Here's my set of partially redundant recommendations:
--as suggested, shoot wide open, at f/2.8 if that is your widest. It will make a difference. Check a DOF chart.
--move closer to the fence. The point of these first two recommendations is to make the fence as much out of focus as possible. The ways to do that are to open the aperture and move the fence closer to the camera.
--as suggested, turn off auto ISO.
--use manual focus. AF will get confused by the fence (as you discovered). AF can't read your mind and does not know what you consider the subject. It just knows where in the image there is contrast. If you want to try AF, use center point only.