5 Tips for Capturing Beautiful Photos at the Zoo

If you ever photographed animals at a zoo, you probably know that it is far harder than it seems. When taking photos at the zoo, you need to avoid bars and fences, dirty, stained and reflective glass, people that block the view and also bushes, trees and logs inside the exhibit. Sometimes you can’t even see the animals because they are hiding. Even with a clear view, the animals are most likely to be resting or sleeping, often facing direction opposite from the human spectators. On the other hand, the admission fee is much cheaper than a flight ticket to Kenya, and in one visit to a large zoo you can see more species of animals than you would if you took a trip around the globe. With that in mind, I compiled some tips that will be helpful if you want to get the best of your visit to the zoo.

1. Overcoming barriers

To avoid the bars and the glasses, get as close as you can to them. When I’m shooting through glass, I take off the lens’s hood and place the lens against the glass. To avoid bars in the photos I open the aperture as wide as possible, usually f/5.6 and wider.

As for the crowd, I strongly suggest to get to the zoo during an ordinary week day. Although it is possible to get nice photos during weekends, holidays or pay-what-you-wish days, you should try your very best to avoid them. Another possibility is to buy a membership, which (in some zoos) allows you to enter before or after official opening hours.

2. Stay in one exhibit

Zoo visitors tend to move around very quickly between the exhibits. They will spend less than a few minutes looking at a specific animal. When I go to the zoo, I choose one exhibit and stay there for most of the day. Of course, choosing the right exhibit is crucial and following the next tip on this article will be extremely helpful for you.

After studying the animals for a while, you can learn about their favorite resting spots and walking paths, group hierarchy and daily schedule – when they are sleeping, feeding and playing. Soon enough, patterns emerge, and it is becoming easier to predict what the animals will be doing next. With experience, you can also predict the location where it is going to happen. This information is crucial because it allows you to set up the gear and be prepared when the action begins.

3. Babies are always a safe bet

Babies are cute, lovable and are more likely to move around the exhibit and play. They are also very curious and will investigate every inch of their exhibit. If there is a baby in the exhibit, odds are that the adults will also be more active and display natural behavior. Among the different animals at the zoo, baby apes are extremely lovable because of their resemblance to humans and because they display a wide variety of facial expressions and emotions. I for one, can never get enough of watching the great apes.

4. Telephoto lens

Not applicable for all exhibits, but in the right place and the right time, a telephoto lens can give you a great advantage over “civilians” with their point-and-shoot cameras (and, of course, their iPhones). It will allow you to get a nice close-up portrait, even if the animal is keeping its distance.

Long focal length, together with wide aperture will overcome some of the barriers and soften the artifacts in the background into a nice-looking bokeh.

5. Love and be emotional

I have a deep, profound love and respect for wildlife. I only go to modern zoos, like the Bronx Zoo, which I know spends a lot of efforts in wildlife conservation and education. When I photograph, I let my emotions go through the lens and translate them in the photos. If you feel that emotion when looking at my photos then I’ve reached my goal.

The article was published in 500px Prime

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Zoo Photography

Some of my best animal photos were created at the zoo. My Kung-Fu snow leopards photos were taken at the Central Park Zoo in NYC. If you want to get special moments at the zoo, my first recommendation would be to get a member card, because getting to know the animals is a big advantage for a photographer. The people of NYC have a great deal: we pay 119 USD for a one year membership card and get free unlimited visits, plus one guest, to all 5 NYC zoos: Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, Queens Zoo and New York Aquarium (located at Coney Island).

From the 5 zoos, the Bronx Zoo is, without a doubt, the most attractive. The Congo exhibit at the Bronx Zoo is gorgeous and I can spend hours watching the gorillas. Knowing Julia, the female western lowland gorilla, for quite a while, I knew she sometimes communicate with the visitors by sticking her tongue out. So, I brought my friend Alex with me and guided her on how to amuse Julia and interact with her. This is an abnormal behavior on Julia's part, but, on the other hand, she successfully creates a lifetime memory for the zoo visitors. By doing so, Julia takes a significant role as an ambassador for her own critically engendered species.      

Another advantage of getting to know  the zoo is becoming familiar with the feeding schedule. Feeding time is usually very interesting to watch since the animals are actually moving instead of resting or hiding. Also, you can prepare your gear before the keepers bring the food out to the exhibit.  I find that my 70-300mm lens is the best for photographing at the zoo.

At the zoo, watching baby animals is always a safe bet. They are very cute, they are playful and they interact with different members of their group. They are also very curious and will investigate any new object in their exhibit. Baby apes are extremely lovable because of their great resemblance to humans. I will always remember the first time I photographed the Bronx Zoo new baby gorilla because my heart missed a beat when I looked at him through the lens.

Black Background

I know that you really like my black background photos and a I've been receiving a lot of questions about it....so I decided to write my first article about how to create a dramatic image with a black background without going to a studio. The first thing you should do, which is very obvious if you think about it, is finding the black background for the scene you are shooting. For example, my baby gorilla photos were all taken when the baby was carried by his mother. Since Mama gorilla is black you can get a nice effect. This is not the traditional black background but you get the idea.

One of the most frustrating situation for a photographer is watching a wonderful scene with very little light. You can't focus, the ISO is high so you know the photo will come out grainy and...you can't focus. Some of my best photos were taken on a very low light and I hardly ever use flash. If you shoot RAW you should try to shoot RAW + JPEG and don't forget to set your aperture to the widest aperture possible in order to get the background blurry and limit your ISO to ~1600. The black background will reveal itself once you start shoot JPEG and with that you can find your best angle for the shoot.

Water can be a perfect black background under the right light. I used water to get the black background for the flamingo. Shadows can also do the trick. At the zoo we tend to ignore animals behind bars and under low light but this can be your perfect shoot. After taking the shoot you can adjust the contrast and watch the background turning black and your object popping out.

If it is a sunny day and you don't have enough shadows it is probably not the best situation for taking a black background photo, try to do something else.... Maybe a light background photo?