Cool camera trick: make fences disappear

In the summer, you can ride a camel through the hot oven of the Arabian Desert for an entire month before it needs to stop for water. And in the winter, a camel can go three months without stopping for a drink.
No wonder they call them the “ships of the desert.”
Bonnie, here, writing to you from our Photo Expedition with professional photographer Daniel Nahabedian in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Today we drove past glitzy high-rises and rolling dunes to visit the local camel market, where the most beautiful camels fetch the highest prices.
The most beautiful camels, I’m told, have large eyes with long eyelashes and small, fuzzy ears. You can pay upwards of $136,000 for the best desert steeds.
We spread out through the market, our cameras at the ready, searching for photos we can sell as stock, editorial, or fine art when we get home.

The one little problem? Most of the camels were in pens with metal fences, like the one you see behind these Sudanese camel merchants:

So Daniel showed us a cool camera trick that makes fences disappear. Here’s how:

1. Set your camera’s f-stop on a small number, like 2.8 or 4.
2. Put your lens right up against the bars, fence, or whatever it is you’re trying to eliminate.
3. Focus on your subject and shoot! The bars should disappear.

I tried it and got these two shots through the fence — the first one I’ll submit to my stock agencies, since it doesn’t require a model release.


No bars! Give this little trick a try next time you need to photograph something behind a fence.
Tomorrow we’re headed to Dubai to take in the view from the tallest building in the world… peruse the gold souk… sniff around the spice market… and marvel at the opulence of the first 7-star hotel in the world!
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