How to deal with mesh netting in arenas (Page 2): My comment referred to how fast they skate, and will learn to skate, because they are Canadian.

amehta Loc: Boston

Kuzano wrote:

Absolutely. There is something about older Canadians shooting pictures of young Canadians that completely changes the way photography works. More true with digital than with film of course....

Now, in the Phillipines...................

???????????

:shock: :?:

My comment referred to how fast they skate, and will learn to skate, because they are Canadian.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

billgdyoung wrote:

Good advice all... and the same techniques work when photographing Zoo creatures too..

Yes, I see people posting pictures of the Grandkids, all the time! :lol:
SS

MtnMan Loc: ID

boberic wrote:

The closer you are to the netting the less the problem will be. you have already solved some of the problem with manual focus. You might solve more of the difficulty with slower f-stop to make the netting less important due to the tighter DOF at the subject

I suspect you meant lower f-stop...to reduce the DOF to around the desired subject.

"Slower f-stop" means higher to me, with greater DOF, because it requires slower shutter speed.

happy sailor Loc: Ontario, Canada

SharpShooter wrote:

Yes, I see people posting pictures of the Grandkids, all the time! :lol:
SS

Hahaha, lol, that is very funny. Grandkids sometimes seem more like zoo creatures.......actually I think perhaps their parents are more like the zoo creatures, the grandkids can pretty much get away with anything!!!
:D

Brian in Whitby Loc: Whitby, Ontario, Canada

You might try putting on a pair of skates and getting on the ice. :lol:

happy sailor Loc: Ontario, Canada

Brian in Whitby wrote:

You might try putting on a pair of skates and getting on the ice. :lol:

Good One Brian, lol, I put a rink in the backyard for them and with the temperatures this year have a pretty nice ice surface. Biggest trick was getting rid of the two metres of snow from the spot the rink was going. 33 below last night and another cold one tonight.

I do have to go and buy skates again, didn't think I would be skating again. Next it will be hockey sticks!!!!!

nekon Loc: Carterton, New Zealand

happy sailor wrote:

Hi all, I was taking pictures of my granddaughters at their skating lesson the other day. The arena has black mesh hanging from the glass above the boards right to the ceiling. There is no spot in the arena to shoot without the mesh. Some of the shots look like there is no mesh where others it is prominent. I did change to manual focusing because the AF was having a terrible time of it.

My question is "what can you do to get around this????"

Thanks for your replys

!

Get as close to the mesh as possible, f2.8 will render mesh out of focus-you really need f2.8 to do this

nekon Loc: Carterton, New Zealand

happy sailor wrote:

Hi all, I was taking pictures of my granddaughters at their skating lesson the other day. The arena has black mesh hanging from the glass above the boards right to the ceiling. There is no spot in the arena to shoot without the mesh. Some of the shots look like there is no mesh where others it is prominent. I did change to manual focusing because the AF was having a terrible time of it.

My question is "what can you do to get around this????"

Thanks for your replys

!

Get as close to the mesh as possible, f2.8 will render mesh out of focus-you really need f2.8 to do this

amehta Loc: Boston

nekon wrote:

Get as close to the mesh as possible, f2.8 will render mesh out of focus-you really need f2.8 to do this

While f/2.8 would be nice, his two pictures are at 174mm and 370mm. To get anything close to these pictures at f/2.8, the OP would need to get the Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8, which is almost US$3600.

A specific aperture like f/2.8 doesn't suddenly make this type of picture work. Using the biggest possible aperture is important. But I don't think it's necessary to throw buckets of cash at this problem.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

happy sailor wrote:

Good One Brian, lol, I put a rink in the backyard for them and with the temperatures this year have a pretty nice ice surface. Biggest trick was getting rid of the two metres of snow from the spot the rink was going. 33 below last night and another cold one tonight.

I do have to go and buy skates again, didn't think I would be skating again. Next it will be hockey sticks!!!!!

Since it would seem that you haven't been on skates in a while, perhaps you should have someone keep a camera pointed at you!! Oh, and be sure to post the photos!

amehta Loc: Boston

LFingar wrote:

Since it would seem that you haven't been on skates in a while, perhaps you should have someone keep a camera pointed at you!! Oh, and be sure to post the photos!

Video! :-)

Dun1 Loc: Atlanta, GA

I deal with net problems during baseball season,
How close you are to the net matters. I usually shoot AV and try to get as close to the netting as possible, with the lens on the wide open, if it's a 2.8 I shoot at 2.8.
You can attempt to use AF, and it may work, you are inside and don't have to deal with the wind blowing the netting, or objects hitting the netting and making you AF go crazy.
The theory for shooting thru a chain link fence is the same, you press you camera lens as tight against the link if you are able to get the close, and find an area inside of the link that you can get AF to lock, or you can get sharp focus if you switch to manual focus.
As Ametha in most instances the shallower you depth of field you use the less of an issue the netting becomes.
Of course you have to understand that moving or trying to pan thru a link is hard, thru the netting is may be a toss up. So pick the shots you can frame thru the netting and then preview what you are getting.
Shooting thru a chain link fence without a lens hood will work. I do advise not using a totally bare lens without some type of filter to protect the lens.
Some of the shots you get can be cropped to get the shots tighter as long as the sweet spot or center is in sharp focus

nekon Loc: Carterton, New Zealand

Dun1 wrote:

I deal with net problems during baseball season, ... (show quote)

This was shot through a mesh fence using a 70-300 zoom lens at F5.6 as I wanted to get pitcher, ball and batter in focus

amehta Loc: Boston

nekon wrote:

This was shot through a mesh fence using a 70-300 zoom lens at F5.6 as I wanted to get pitcher, ball and batter in focus

Softball, not cricket? I'm surprised. :-)

nekon Loc: Carterton, New Zealand

amehta wrote:

Softball, not cricket? I'm surprised. :-)

Cricket pitches in New Zealand don't have mesh fences