300mm f/2.8 + 2x Teleconverter and Foreground Bokeh Occlusion

[-ST-]

• ILCE-1M2
• FE 300mm F2.8 GM OSS + 2X Teleconverter
• 600.0 mm
• ƒ/5.6
• 1/500 sec
• ISO 2000

I tried something a bit different with this morning. I was out with relatives a few days ago, and my aunt asked me how I could photograph animals through fences. So this has been on my mind.

There was a metal mesh fence between me and the flower (peony)— the kind with roughly 2.54 cm (1 inch) squares. I took this shot at about 1.5 metres from the fence. The peony itself was maybe half a metre to a metre behind the fence, and then there was a layer of green foliage a couple of metres behind the flower.

At 600 millimetres and f/5.6, the depth of field at this distance is so thin that the fence goes completely out of focus, but not so far out that it disappears. Instead, the grid softens into a plaid‑like pattern. The interesting part is that the fence picks up the colour of the foliage behind the flower, so the metal lines turn into darker green stripes. The actual foliage loses all detail and becomes a smooth green wash, which makes the softened fence pattern look like a background rather than something in front of the flower.

I have Full Time DMF (Direct Manual Focus) "on" on the lens and this let me override autofocus on the fence, and focus beyond the fence onto the peony. The whole foreground layer melted away and the pattern became part of the scene.

I'm having a ball getting to know the 300mm f/2.8 GM.

 

[Unframed Dave]

I think that if you got right up to the fence and took the shot, it would practically dissappear.