How to photograph zoo animals without the cage bars

by Ruth Bolderson
(Leesburg, Fl, USA)

"I would like to photo zoo animals and have the cage bars disappear or fade out. How is this done with a digital with a digital point & shoot and a digital SLR?"

This is a good question about how to photograph zoo animals without the cage bars showing. It is difficult to answer because there are so many variables involved.

The distance from the camera to the cage bars and the distance and size of the subject are both very important.

There are ways to using photo editing software after the photo is taken to eliminate the cage bars, but that can be quite involved. It is always better to avoid or reduce the interference of the bars in your photo to start with.

One technique is to move your point and shoot or digital SLR slightly to the right or left and use the strongest telephoto setting to include less cage bars in your photo.

Getting as close as possible to the bars will also help make them out of focus as much as possible.

Read some of the articles on controlling depth of field on this digital photo tips web site to get a better understanding of that one. What is depth of field

Also, can you send or upload a photo example of yours? I may be able to fix it or at least give you a more specific photo technique, depending on the situation that you are facing?

Let me know,
Photo TipMan

p.s. I have used the "clone" tool in Adobe Photoshop to eliminate out of focus distractions in the foreground of photos.