1. Patience Is A Virtue
Patience is the number one virtue you can have if you want to shoot zoo animals. The animals aren’t just going to pose for you as soon as they see the camera, you have to wait, and some times you have to wait a really long time.
2. Do Your Research
Figure out what animal(s) you want to shoot that day and find out when they are most active. Typically most zoo animals are most active when its cool out (aka first thing in the morning so get there as soon as the zoo opens), or just before dusk and added bonus to these times of day is the great (soft) light. I suggest going onto the zoos website to see if you can find further information about the animals that are there. Another thing you can do is to talk to the trainers/handlers before you shoot to find out that specific animals activity and schedule. It’s also a good idea to find out the Zoos policies such as on no flash photography (some of the exhibits may not allow flash photography because it will bother and/or harm the animal) before you go.
3. What To Bring For You
Some stuff you may not have thought of that we always take (sometimes we learned the hard way) include :
1) Disposable ponchos: in case it rains you can protect yourself and your gear. (they are nice and small and don’t take up much room either)
2) A change of clothing: keep an extra set of clothing in the car as you may have to get down and dirty for a shot. (learned the hard way)
3) BRING A LUNCH OR EVEN DINNER: you may have to camp out close to the animals enclosure to wait for the animal to move and get the shot you want, so your gonna be there a while so bring a snack or something so you don’t have to leave for lunch and miss an opportunity to shoot. (also learned the hard way)
4) Good pair of walking shoes: your on your feet all day, and I mean ALL day walking around. (we were smart about that one ;) )
4. What To Bring For Your Camera
Now you are taken care of, lets take care of the camera!
1) A Cloth: to wipe finger prints off the glass
2) Extra batteries: there is no point in staking out an animal all day just to have your battery die when you go to take a picture forcing you to go home because you didn’t bring any extras.
3) Tripod: sometimes animals hide deep in their exhibits which can be dark requiring slower shutter speeds at longer focal lengths than can be handheld.
4) Rain gear: its one thing to get yourself wet, you can use a towel. Your camera…not so much, it can be an expensive mistake to forget your rain gear.
5) Memory Cards: if your shooting all day you can take A LOT of pictures. You don’t want to be looking at your camera trying to find pictures to delete just as a tiger licks her paw.
5. Watch Your Backgrounds
Always search for the best possible angle that best depicts the animal in their natural habitat. This can be particularly challenging at zoos as the animal may be in front of a fence or pole (if this is the case you may have to wait until later when the animal has moved). Make sure you focus on the animal so the background is out of focus if you cant wait for the animal to move to a better location.
6. Getting Through The Fences
The key thing with shooting through fences is to get in close. Try focusing on the subject through one the gaps in the fence and your camera should focus past it. If this doesn’t work wait until the animal as move further back if they are close to fence. With some zoo exhibits they have areas that aren’t caged, use them to your advantage. Sadly with some exhibits they are just so well fenced up that your camera can’t focus past them. However certain zoos have different enclosures for their animals so you might have to look around to see if you can find a zoo that has an enclosure that will work for you.
7. Shooting Through Glass
Don’t! If you can avoid shooting through glass, do it! Shooting through glass creates several problems:
1) Finger Prints: they are ugly, and don’t look good in pictures. Even with your cloth you can’t reach the inside of the glass. Who knows what the animal has done to that side of the glass.
2) They reduce light: depending on the thickness of the glass it can reduce the light by up to 50% or more.
3) Reflections: need we say more?
If you have no choice and you want to try to shoot through the glass try and do the following:
1) Remove as many smudges as you can
2) Find an area of the glass that has the fewest scratches or is scratch free.
3) Try shooting at a right angle to reduce the reflections and place your hand above or beside the lens to reduce reflections.
4) Be aware of other visitors. Sometimes if another visitor is up beside you their reflection may appear in your shot.
8. Try Different Angles
Get at eye level with your subject to create different compositions then just shooting down on your subject. Also don’t afraid to zoom or walk around when shooting your subject to play with different points of view.
9. Respect Zoo Rules
This in important if you wish to continue shooting and for your own safety. If you want a particular shot you need to think of other ways to do it safely: either change the angle of which your shooting, get closer (again if its safe to do so), or come back another time when the animal is more active and closer to view. Also respect your fellow visitors, try to position yourself so you are not blocking the viewing area of the animal and you can get the best shot from.
10. Don’t Just Focus On The Animals
Usually zoos have a variety of things that you can shoot. Most have very beautiful gardens with a variety of flowers to shoot. Keep a look out for other things to shoot if you are waiting for the animal you want to photograph to either wake up or make their way into view.
So there you go. Hopefully these help you out before you make your zoo trip. Please feel free to leave any comments or your own tips/suggestions below.
Chow for now
Melissa Ashenhurst
