Digital Photos - Make Cages and Fences Disappear

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Digital Photos

July 24, 2009

Look at the two photos below. The same forlorn monkey is visible, but in one photo, the closest section of the cage is clearly visible; in the other, the cage has disappeared.

These photos were taken using a point-and-shoot Canon SX10 IS camera with a 20x optical zoom.

Monkey with visible cage Cage is gone

How to make the cage disappear

For this effect, it helps if your camera has a large optical zoom range:

  1. Set the camera to Portrait mode or Av (Aperture priority) mode. If you select Av mode, set the aperture to the smallest number, usually f/2.8. This is the widest aperture for the camera.
  2. Step as close to the cage as possible and try to focus through one of the gaps in the cage.
  3. Zoom in on the subject from a distance at the longest zoom setting.
  4. Move yourself and the camera around and try different angles until you find an angle where the closest section of the cage disappears.
  5. Focus on the subject, compose the photo and take the shot.
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Updated on November 9, 2009