Dealing with Fences

Yesterday I gave shooting a softball game a try and got mixed results. At first

I started out shooting from the stands and had heard that when using a zoom you

could "see through" the fence by getting close to it. How close do you have to

get? I was about 5 feet or so from it and in some photos you can clearly see

the fence. In others, especially those where I used manual focus, the fence

doesn't seem to show up.

 

I later moved down past the first base dugout and shot from behind first base

and those look good since I didn't have to worry about shooting through the

fence as I could shoot over it. Next time I think I'm going to bring a small

foot stool though so I'll be a little higher over the fence when shooting from

that location.

 

Also recommendations on lenses would be welcomed. I only used the 200mm lens

yesterday and will need to use something shorter when shooting behind the

plate. Would a 50mm lens work there?

 

Thanks in advance for any tips you can pass along.

You have to get right up to the fence (Or as close as you can get). If your lens has a focus limiter switch, set it to the position with the longer minimum focus distance, so AF won't be confused by the fence.

By getting close to the fence and focusing on the distance, you're putting the wire so far

outside the zone of focus that it blurs into a gray translucent fog. It's not so much that

you're seeing through it; rather, you're sort of seeing "around" the wires. The fence is still

there in the shots, though -- If you compare two images, you'll notice that the ones shot

through the fence are a little greyer and flatter.

 

The reason this works is specifically because you are using a long lens which has a very

narrow depth of field. If you go down to something like a 50, you'll have a much harder

time getting the fence to disappear, if you can do it at all; the depth of field is much

larger. If you need to get close, you're better off sticking the lens through a hole than

trying to blur the fence to invisibility. I would recommend taking a 35 or 28 (or their

equivalents for your sensor, if you have a DSLR) and putting it though a hole in the fence

to get shots at the plate. 50mm might work great if you want slightly closer cropping.

Use long focal length, place front of lens as close as possible behind the fence (presumably chain link,) and set aperture wide open. Essentially, when doing so, the fence is much, much closer than the lens' minimum focusing distance (AF won't register) while long focal length & large aperture provides shallow depth-of-field that effectively blur away any seemingly visible, nearby fence.

 

With shorter focal lengths, as above said, you'll most likely have to stick the lens through the fence to avoid it being captured, but that will expose a potential damage to your equipment by a foul ball.<div></div>

Thanks for all of the advice, I do appreciate it. I will try these techniques at the next softball game I shoot. Tomorrow night is another football scrimmage game.

See this thread, linesmans plier wasn't it Dan?

 

http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00M0if

ha ha Mark, I read that thread, lineman pliers -- I think not :)

So Mark I decided to try those lineman pliers afterall - worked great! Check out the attached shot I got with no fence in the way......just kidding. I shot this through the fence :)<div></div>

Nice, for really thick chain link fence I'd recommend a blow tourch.

 

Nice shot.