Fun At The Zoo

In this post, we focus (no pun intended) on how to shoot photos at zoos, wildlife parks, aquariums and nature sanctuaries. As in any type of animal photography, patience, persistence and creativity are the secrets.

Composition - When setting up to photograph animals in a zoo environment, there are several considerations The first one is varying your composition. Take some shots with the subject looking straight at you along with some looking left or right. To achieve this you may have to reposition your digital camera several times. This is the patience and persistence part. Use a tripod to maximize the sharpness of your photos.

The other part of composition is subject placement. Apply the rule of thirds. To use this rule, mentally create a grid by separating your viewfinder into three sections, both vertically and horizontally - like a tic-tac-toe board. The rule is to place your subject on one of the intersecting points in the grid.

Time of Day - The second consideration is time of day with early morning and late afternoon the best times to shoot. Photographing from sunrise to about 2 ½ hours after and again about 2 ½ hours before sunset to sunset, produces a soft, golden, highly directional lighting saturating the colors of the subject and background.

Another reason for shooting early or late in the day is the lack of crowds during these two times. And the final reason is the animals are most active early and late in the day. In the wild, this is when they normally hunt and eat. During the middle of the day, they are more lethargic and not as photogenic.

Illumination - Illumination of a subject occurs from three possible directions: the front called frontlighting, the back called backlighting, and the side called sidelighting. Each have their advantages.

Frontlighting minimizes shadows and thereby texture, but it will intensify color. If you are trying to accent the fur of an animal, this is not the best lighting. Use sidelighting instead.

Backlighting creates a rimlight effect. This type of lighting creates a glow around the subject giving it a halo type of look, but it also can fool the TTL in your digital camera and your subject can come out as a silhouette.

Sidelighting defines the texture of the surface of an object. It creates a 3D effect by highlighting the high points bathed in the directional light and forming small shadowy areas in those that are not with the result being texture - texture so distinct that your viewers can imagine how it feels just by looking at the photo. Of the three types of directional lighting, this best because of its texture accenting ability.

Chains, Fences and Enclosures - If you are trying to show the animals without their containment, you will want to try avoid showing the bars, barriers and wires. When this is impossible, their presence can be minimized by using a long millimeter lens and shooting at wide apertures to blur both the foreground and background.

To make a chain link fence disappear, put the front of your lens up to the fence and centered in one of the openings. Set the lens aperture to wide open and shoot. This will give you a very shallow depth-of-field thereby obliterating the wire of the fence and softening the background.

While shooting in this non-natural environment, shoot close-ups to minimize the environment. In wildlife parks, where the environment is more like it would be in the animal’s natural habitat, create an environmental portrait by including more of the animal’s surroundings. Here, you will want to use a smaller aperture to hold both the foreground and background in focus.

If you are in a wildlife park with a driving route, shoot from inside your vehicle. Use a window camera mount or a bean bag. Be sure to shut off your vehicle’s engine to minimize camera movement.

If shooting through a glass barrier, try to find a piece of clean glass and place the lens hood up against it to minimize reflections. If using a flash, use it off camera and hold it at a 45 degree angle to the camera and up against the glass.

As far as sensor speed ISO, for the outside shots, use a slow ISO such as 100 on sunny days or 200 if cloudy. For indoor aquarium shots, use ISO 400.

Summary - Shooting at the zoo is exciting. Where else can you get, in one location, a collection of animals from around the world. Take your time, plan your shots and enjoy the photography of animals. If you are marketing these photos, do not try to pass them off as shot in the wild.

If you liked this article, visit our Sunlight Digital Photography website for more tips and techniques.

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