Tips Wanted For Taking Photos Of Animals At The Zoo..

[MissMolly]

Hi,

I am off to Taronga zoo next Tuesday and was wondering if anyone had any tips for getting great shots of the animals, I have a canon 450d, the twin lenses and the 1.8.. I know a lot will depend on the day but was hoping a couple of tips might make sure I at least get one or two shots I love..

Ta..

[Guest Tess32]

I did some blog articles on it:

Zoo Photography Part 1

http://www.animusphotography.com/zoo-photography-part-1/

Part2

http://www.animusphotography.com/zoo-photography-part-2/

Part 3

http://www.animusphotography.com/zoo-photography-part-3/

My main tip would be - don't try and visit every single enclosure in one go. Most of the time you visit, animals are nowhere to be seen, leave, miss them.

At Taronga, it's really going to come down to the light you get on the day.

Edited October 26, 2010 by Tess32

[~*Shell*~]

It really is about the light at Taronga. For some reason the windows all seem to be pointed in the direction where they catch the sun in the afternoon which is timed perfectly with the time the normal animals people like to photograph like to get in a good positions for photos There is always something to get a shot of though. The bird show is great (awesome for practicing your timing) as is the seal show and they rotate the two tigers so you can see both of them. If you want to be guaranteed a good shot - go and watch the meerkats! They have a great enclosure for taking photos!

If you're tall enough and you can use the shade of most of the enclosures so you can shoot through a space that isn't reflecting, that will help a huge amount. You'll probably need the longer reach of the 55-250mm lens for it. I shot with my 70-200mm 2.8 and i really liked some of the results when comparing them to my last zoo visit (but I've upgraded from the 450D with kit lenses to the 5D mark II with my L series lens since then).

This was last time:

And this was this time (looking back, i really want to re-edit this - it's very dark!):