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Photographing at the Zoo
Most zoos around the country are eliminating cages as much as possible and designing habitats closely resembling the actual environment of the animals on exhibit.
This presents a tremendous opportunity to the photographer who wishes to capture an animal on film in his natural surroundings. And it doesn’t matter what time of year either.
Let's begin with equipment. In addition to your camera body, a long telephoto (300¬400mm) and a short telephoto (85-135mm) will work just fine. A flash for indoor exhibits will round out the essential equipment. Provisions for close-up photography will come in handy too.
Like people, animals have distinct personalities. Some are active, some lazy. Some are interested in us "humans" peering at them, and some couldn't care less. Take time to study their movement and habits. Watch their routines-animals tend to be repetitious. Focus in on the part of the act you like and shoot. Animals are alert and active right before feeding so you be on the alert too. Shortly after feeding, most animals clean and groom themselves, and then it's siesta time. Each of these phases of animal behavior will offer rewarding photographs.
As always, be sure to check out your backgrounds. Make them as natural as possible, avoiding fences, telephone poles, and other zoo visitors. If you have to shoot through a fence, don't worry. Just place the lens as close to the fence as possible and use a wide lens opening to minimize depth-of-field. In the final picture, the fence won't even be there!
Don't let those snakes and lizards behind glass in indoor exhibits scare you off. If you press your camera and flash against the glass, all will be well, and unwanted reflections will be eliminated.
Did you know that zoos offer much more than animal photography. In addition to being a fantastic place for flower and other foliage photography, zoos are a great place to observe other people, especially kids. Children and their reactions to the different kinds of animals and animal behavior can result in prize-winning candid pictures showing amazement, humor and surprise.
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