It’s a new month which means the blog counter gets reset. All is good though due to our recent trip out to Denver – came back with enough blog material to pretty much take me through the end of this year. That, of course, is under the assumption I can plow through the current backlog. Just need to get past a few more planned races and time should free up again. As of now I’ve managed to tweak a back rib which really luckily only hurts when I breathe or move. Making the best of a bad situation figured it would be a good time to sit in a chair and get started on the quota – holding my breath so if a long stream of letters shows up here get help for I’ve passed out.
Speaking of making the most out of a bad situation, that is just about what this particular post was titled. Why? because this is all about trying to cope with a wildlife photographer’s nemesis – the dreaded chain link fence. The International Crane Foundation has some very nice habitats for photography, but there a number of pens in the central area that rely on standard fencing. No need to fear…
There are plenty of opportunities to still come away with some nice shots and if nothing else, you can use it as practice when conditions are not ideal out in the field. In a previous post it was mentioned that the Beast (my 200 to 400 glass) is capable of limiting the impact fences have on a shot as long as the subject you are shooting is a considerable distance away from the fence. You might get some linear shading but that can be worked out in the digital dark room if really needed – most of the time people will not notice unless your composition tells them there was a fence there in the first place. When the subject is close to the fence, there is no way the glass is going to let that go. Instead you have to be a little more creative. The easiest approach is to simply go for dramatic detail.
These first two shots were simply a matter of cropping out those pesky fence lines and focusing on the core component of all wildlife photography – the eye! If you recall, this topic has come up before (link here). I really like those shots and planning to make them into a mini wall collage at some point in honor of Peter Lik who does a similar thing with textures. Thanks to the ICF trip there are now two more shots for the collection.
Hit the jump to see more examples of how to cope with fences in your composition!
Life Intrigued 