Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/07/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Guys & Gals, A reminder for you baseball fans when you want to shoot your favorite team, be it Little League or pros and that "wire fence in front of you." How to get rid of it and still have clean sharp photographs, slides or legs. I use long glass, 80-200 @ 200, 280-400-560-800 for this kind of shooting and certainly nothing shorter than 100mm. Usually anything shorter than 100 will show wire in the shot even with the wide open method. First thing..... set the lens wide open and get right up against the fence and put the front of the lens, no not the glass, against the wire. The metal outer rim can touch, however not necessary, just get as close as possible like an inch or so from the wire. Obviously one should set the shutter speed to correspond with a correct exposure whie the aperture is wide opn or not more than one stop down. Best bet.. always go wide open! Don't bother looking for a little larger hole for the lens to see through. Actually don't even think about the wire fence and imagine it isn't there and concentrate on the subject, focus and shoot the action! And you should come home with the kind of sport photographs you'll be proud to show your family, friends and sports fans. Another point if it's available. Pick a spot where the fence you're shooting through is in shadow, then the lens wont pick-up flare due to the highlight off the wire . And away you go shooting to your hearts content. Be prepared for folks to tell you the wire is in front of your lens and it will spoil your photographs. Just say thanks and carry right on...... if you do this correctly as explained, shooting as though the wire isn't there and the lens wide open you will not, without question, see the fence! Period! NADA nothing. Shooting colour slide film, I use 100SW, the odd time I'll push it one stop depending on light level . B&W 100 Ilford and or 400 tri-x whatever happens to be in the bag at the time. An item to prove the point that it works for those doubters, I like to add this. A100SW frame from last year's Little Leauge championships of my grandson pitching was sold by the agency I'm with for $8000. USD!!!!!!!!!!! Not bad for a system I use and have been told ... "Hey the fence is going to ruin all your pictures!" ;-) The monetary deal with my 12 year old Grandson .. he gets half of any money drived from pictures he appears in. Great for building his education fund. :-) So there you go lads & lasses, a helpful hint for shooting any sports played when you're outside the fence. Your welcome, ted - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html