Zoo Photography
Asia Trail
One great thing about living in the DC area is that we have easy access to the National Zoo. There are a lot of great outdoor exhibits and the zoo is camera friendly. Recently, they added a section called Asia Trail for animals from the eastern parts of the world.
It’s always a challenge to take photos in a zoo, especially when trying to achieve a natural look. Wires, bars, cages, cables and feeding paraphernalia all conspire to get in the way of a natural looking shot. Here are some tips I came up with:
1. Use a fast lens - Lenses that have a large aperture like f/2.8 or f/4 will be able to capture action without resorting to high ISO. It’s also a good tool to blur backgrounds and obscure man-made objects which may be behind the animal.
2. Zoom in tight - Tight portraits of animals help to avoid background junk and engage the viewer with the animal.
3. Focus on the eyes - No matter what, the eyes should be in focus. Carefully choose a focal point that is based on the eyes of the animal.
4. Shoot early or late - Just like most other photography, the soft light of dawn or dusk is much more pleasing for most shots. Color in fur, feathers or scales will also show up much better at these times.
5. Learn Photoshop - Nothing beats photoshop’s layers and clone tools to remove a stray fence or wire.