New feature for my website, How I Got The Shot – borrowed from my Instagram feed (@AnthonyMorganti).
*Click on the image to enlarge
For many of us, the closest we’ll get to wildlife is in the zoo. Overall, taking pictures of zoo animals is much easier than taking them in the wild but, there are some challenges unique to the zoo environment. Most notably, we often have to deal with bars, fences, and reflective glass. You’ll find that in most cases, all can be managed.
For this image, the Cinereous Vulture was in a simple chain link fence enclosure. As you can see, there is no indication that I shot through the fence, and you’ll find that it’s relatively easy to blur it out if you follow these guidelines:
- Get as close to the fence as possible.
- The animal will have to be as far away from the fence as possible. So, don’t expect to blur away the chain link fence if the animal is right up to it.
- Use a long focal length (telephoto) lens — the longer, the better.
- Open up the aperture as much as possible.
As I mentioned, the vulture was in a chain link fence enclosure and to make matters worse; there was a chest-high, wood picket fence barrier about 5-6 feet in front of the chain link fence. So, what I did, to get my camera as close to the chain link fence as possible, is put it in Live-View mode and hold it out at arm’s length, getting it as close to the chain link fence as possible.
Gear: Nikon D500 with Nikon 70-200mm F2.8 Lens
Settings: Manual Mode with Auto-ISO
1/125 sec, F2.8, iso: 140 at 200mm
Spot metering — metered on the vulture’s cheek feathers
Single point focus – focused on the vulture’s eye.
Shot RAW and processed in Lightroom – nothing out of the ordinary.
