Fencing

jmtonkin · May 23, 2012

Quick question! Today was my little sisters last softball game for the year. It was also the first I went to due to school. I decided to take some pictures for my mom. Now for my question: How can I deal with the chain link fence surrounding the field? I have a Nikon 18-200 f/3.5-5.6. I ended up getting as close to the fence as I could and then trying to shoot through the openings. Is there a better way to manage this problem? For the most part, my method worked, but there were some in which there was a gray strip that was very OOF going across her body...

Buckster · May 23, 2012

Get as close to the fence as possible, and use a wide aperture. That will throw the fence as far out of focus as you can get, and usually that's enough that it's barely even able to be seen or not at all.

Here are a couple where I used that method at a zoo that had these guys surrounded by a standard chain link fence:

jmtonkin · May 23, 2012

Those are great! I shot at f/5.6 because at 200mm, I couldn't go any wider...So, it appears that I have a fundamental understanding of it, now it's just equipment limitations...

imagemaker46 · May 23, 2012

You shouldn't have any trouble shooting through the fence, just put the lens tight to it. The fence will likely show up if you shoot wide, stay as close to the 200mm as you can.

jmtonkin · May 23, 2012

I had my lens hood on and my lens hood was touching the fence...Next time I could take the hood off to try to get that extra three or so inches closer

imagemaker46 · May 23, 2012

Just watch for the wild pitches and foul balls

jmtonkin · May 23, 2012

That's partially why I left my lens hood on...I was terrified that I'd have my lens pressed to the fence and a ball would hit my lens...

gsgary · May 23, 2012

Take some wire cutters next time

jmtonkin · May 23, 2012

gsgary said:
Take some wire cutters next time

I'm not sure they'd appreciate that!

Here are a couple from yesterday.

In this first one, the fence is pretty OOF, but there is random clumps of gray throughout.

This one, try as I might, I could not get the fence completely OOF. I ended up shooting this one through the opening in the fence.

Patrice · May 23, 2012

That looks like a six foot fence or thereabouts. What about scouting the location you want to shoot from and use a short stepladder so as to photograph from above the fence.

As for a ball hitting your lens, might happen, might not. One thing is certain is that equipment that does not get used for fear of damage produce absolutely zero images.

Ask your parents if they could put a rider on their household insurance to cover your photography gear in case of mishaps. Should not be very expensive, you might even offer to pay them back with money you could earn by cutting a lawn or two.

jmtonkin · May 23, 2012

I walked around a bit but the fence goes down the entire baseline out past the outfield...I could use a step stool, I'm just not sure about the angle of the shot though...Maybe next season I'll try that though!

imagemaker46 · May 23, 2012

I did just a little work on the second image, a tighter crop has taken most of the white out. If you shoot wide you will always end up with some fence.

jmtonkin · May 23, 2012

The crop does get rid of most of the fence, but I wanted to get the catcher in the shot too...I'll probably crop it though cause the grey really bugs me!