Guest Tess32 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Have you tried taking photos at Taronga Zoo in Sydney Tess32? The most annoying thing for me was when the animals were behind caging wire - trying to focus just right to get past the wire was a complete pain... grrr! Taronga is pretty similar to Melb in that regard, a little better. Quite a few of mine are Taronga...the mum and baby gorilla shot, any chimp shot, giraffes, couple of the lions. As long as the animal isn't too close to the wire or the sun isn't bouncing of it, it's mostly ok. I find wire better than glass SOMETIMES. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tess32 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 It's years of stuff remember, I've been doing it since 2006 :) If you have any questions about zoo photography though I am happy to answer. I have a question if that's ok? Which lens do you find is the best for most of your zoo work? Hands down the 100-400 L. Before that I had the 70-300 IS, I definitely wouldn't work with under 300mm. I borrowed the 70-200 F2.8 L once and didn't get much at Melb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tess32 Posted April 5, 2012 Share Posted April 5, 2012 Have you tried taking photos at Taronga Zoo in Sydney Tess32? The most annoying thing for me was when the animals were behind caging wire - trying to focus just right to get past the wire was a complete pain... grrr! I'm pretty chuffed at how this latest lot of zoo photos turned out - all were handheld in Landscape mode on the camera (I'm not brave enough to go manual), and at pretty full zoom on the 18-270mm lens - and most of the reptile ones were also done in lower light without using the flash. The penguin ones were the hardest to get as they are so fast, and you are in a darkened enclosed area shooting through glass AND water. I think I had managed to work out the panning focus a bit better by the time I got to them... *grin* Yesterday I was taking photos of some of our rescue pups racing around like wind up toys on speed - and I think I'm getting better with the panning focus thing... you get lots of practice photographing puppies... lol! T. I think you've done pretty well :) I meant to say though, why landscape mode? I shoot on aperture mode and use the maximum fstop (which is 5.6 on my lens). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tess32 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Do you do much zoo stuff Snook? The 100-400 is great for dogs as well. Just bear in mind at 400mm and 5.6f, you don't have much light to work with! I actually do find it pretty steady to hold, but I do keep my ISO pretty high rather than use a tripod at a zoo. I've even used the 100-400 for baby shots so it's pretty versatile, just has a learning curve. Of course the 70-200 lenses are all handy too, but I honestly find 200mm much much too short for the zoo most times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juddabug Whippets Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Tess, you have gorgeous zoo shots! Love all the photos of animals I look after, amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Have you tried taking photos at Taronga Zoo in Sydney Tess32? The most annoying thing for me was when the animals were behind caging wire - trying to focus just right to get past the wire was a complete pain... grrr! I'm pretty chuffed at how this latest lot of zoo photos turned out - all were handheld in Landscape mode on the camera (I'm not brave enough to go manual), and at pretty full zoom on the 18-270mm lens - and most of the reptile ones were also done in lower light without using the flash. The penguin ones were the hardest to get as they are so fast, and you are in a darkened enclosed area shooting through glass AND water. I think I had managed to work out the panning focus a bit better by the time I got to them... *grin* Yesterday I was taking photos of some of our rescue pups racing around like wind up toys on speed - and I think I'm getting better with the panning focus thing... you get lots of practice photographing puppies... lol! T. I think you've done pretty well :) I meant to say though, why landscape mode? I shoot on aperture mode and use the maximum fstop (which is 5.6 on my lens). To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what all the fancy settings do - can't seem to get my head around what all the terminology means when I need to take a photo. I tend to click the dial onto either Landscape (for more overall focus), or Sports (when photographing moving things like puppies) - the camera and lens seem to just do the rest once I point and press the magic button. I'm getting pretty good at pointing at the right things and pressing the button at the right time now I think, yes? What I really need is an Idiot's Guide to what all the new words mean with regards to me getting the best out of my camera, but not to lose the fun part of just throwing caution to the wind when taking photos... I don't want to get tied up with all the fiddly things and lose sight of just catching the "moment", if you get what I mean. The main reason I haven't looked into getting any lessons or doing any courses is that I tend to find that they push you into doing things a specific way, and I lose my "creative" streak... *sigh* I must say though, this new camera takes VERY nice pics - even when compared to what I thought were awesome pics taken with my 450D. My head would probably explode if let loose with an even better camera and lens... lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tess32 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Are the flamingos still at Adelaide Zoo? I loved the shots I got of them. Also the Lions are nice and close, the Gibbons are in a great location. Small but some nice opportunities. I think Taronga is the easiest, Melbourne, then Adelaide. I've also been to Canberra which is so-so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tess32 Posted April 6, 2012 Share Posted April 6, 2012 Have you tried taking photos at Taronga Zoo in Sydney Tess32? The most annoying thing for me was when the animals were behind caging wire - trying to focus just right to get past the wire was a complete pain... grrr! I'm pretty chuffed at how this latest lot of zoo photos turned out - all were handheld in Landscape mode on the camera (I'm not brave enough to go manual), and at pretty full zoom on the 18-270mm lens - and most of the reptile ones were also done in lower light without using the flash. The penguin ones were the hardest to get as they are so fast, and you are in a darkened enclosed area shooting through glass AND water. I think I had managed to work out the panning focus a bit better by the time I got to them... *grin* Yesterday I was taking photos of some of our rescue pups racing around like wind up toys on speed - and I think I'm getting better with the panning focus thing... you get lots of practice photographing puppies... lol! T. I think you've done pretty well :) I meant to say though, why landscape mode? I shoot on aperture mode and use the maximum fstop (which is 5.6 on my lens). To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what all the fancy settings do - can't seem to get my head around what all the terminology means when I need to take a photo. I tend to click the dial onto either Landscape (for more overall focus), or Sports (when photographing moving things like puppies) - the camera and lens seem to just do the rest once I point and press the magic button. I'm getting pretty good at pointing at the right things and pressing the button at the right time now I think, yes? What I really need is an Idiot's Guide to what all the new words mean with regards to me getting the best out of my camera, but not to lose the fun part of just throwing caution to the wind when taking photos... I don't want to get tied up with all the fiddly things and lose sight of just catching the "moment", if you get what I mean. The main reason I haven't looked into getting any lessons or doing any courses is that I tend to find that they push you into doing things a specific way, and I lose my "creative" streak... *sigh* I must say though, this new camera takes VERY nice pics - even when compared to what I thought were awesome pics taken with my 450D. My head would probably explode if let loose with an even better camera and lens... lol! Even if you're sticking to the auto modes for now, you're probably best with something like a portrait mode. When you know what everything means, it just becomes automatic and you don't really think about it. You won't lose any creativity, what you will gain is knowing how to do what you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted April 6, 2012 Author Share Posted April 6, 2012 Hey - I think I learned something! After Tess32 made her post about Aperture Mode and setting it to a higher number, I went looking on Google and found out that aperture relates to the depth of field blur effect for backgrounds whilst keeping the subject in focus... awesome! I'm gonna try it out a bit today when I go to the Royal Easter Show... T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tess32 Posted April 7, 2012 Share Posted April 7, 2012 Are the flamingos still at Adelaide Zoo? I loved the shots I got of them. Also the Lions are nice and close, the Gibbons are in a great location. Small but some nice opportunities. I think Taronga is the easiest, Melbourne, then Adelaide. I've also been to Canberra which is so-so. Yep, still got the flamingos. Some %$#@%^$ teenagers beat one up a year or two ago. This is one of the pics I took of them a couple of months after I got my camera. :) Can I also ask what is the highest ISO you normally use at the zoo? My reason for asking is to do with what I posted before about deciding between cameras. I'll go up to about 1600 sometimes...which is average on my camera (50D) but I'd rather get the shot. You lose a LOT of light with the 100-400 at 400mm and only 5.6f, so you'd be using high ISOs most of the time. Nice shot of the flamingo, they were a highlight...will be so sad when they are gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frodo's mum Posted April 10, 2012 Share Posted April 10, 2012 wow great photo's love the close-ups and the gorilla's and monkeys are just so cute :) they are all just gorgeous little things to take photo's of looks like you had a great day we don't have a zoo here ..well a park but you have to try and take photo's of the handful of monkey's through tiny square wire I got a few but was darn hard the camel and the bison were just dots on the horizon...was very disappointed Tess love your photo's to..just stunning snook great one of the flamingo to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Gifts Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 I am very textural and just love it when a crisp photo makes you want to touch their fur or stroke their whiskers. Amazing shots T! Although one of the meerkats has a goober near his eyes I want to pick off..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tdierikx Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 Thanks PS - and none of these photos has had any post processing except resizing down for putting up here... T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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