The Photography Tip of the Week #054

Posted by Philip in Podcast

054 Photography Tip of the Week (audio)

Go on a Mini Safari

Sometimes you feel like you are stuck in a rut.  A lot of this comes from living in one location.  Unless you travel a lot, your photos begin to look the same to you because of your familiarity with your surroundings.  Yes that last sentence had a form of “you” in there four times.  The point being, that you need to change your outlook and figure out how you can make your photos fresh to you.  Ha!  Five forms of “you” in one sentence.  For me, I’d love to go on a Safari.  Looking for and photographing animals in Africa or the Arctic would be a grand adventure.  Don’t get me wrong, I love photographing landscapes, portraits and events.  But every now and then I’d love to have one of those photos you hang on the wall and show off that you were there and brought back a moment.  But last time I checked I had no vast amounts of money to finance one of these trips or a job that sent me to remote locales.   So to get the “big game” photos, I have to think more budget conscious… the Zoo!

If you listen to podcasts of travel photographers one thing you will hear them say rather often is how much they dislike the zoo.  ”Captive animals lack that spark and seem so lifeless.”  They would prefer to photograph in the wild.  Well duh, don’t we all.  But the zoo can be a great way of honing your wildlife skills.  You don’t have to hunt very hard to find a photogenic animal.  The only thing you have to do is be patient.  Either you need to wait for the animals to be more active, the crowds to die down or for the animal to be in the right place for your photo.  Patience is key.  And of course the number one tip is to get in closer.  Since you often have a barrier to deal with, you will have to use a zoom lens like I did for this cougar.  This is an uncropped version of this image.  Even though I have some motion blur as I was tracking with the cougar, the frame is tight and gives me a really nice image.  Granted I’m not going to get the National Geographic style image of two lions fighting to the death, but if I didn’t tell you beforehand that this was at a zoo, there’s nothing here to tip you off.

The other nice thing about the zoo, is you have the chance to photograph a wide range of subjects without going too far.  And many don’t have barriers that will obscure your vision or distort your image.  But like all animals at the zoo you need to carefully frame your photo to create that suspension of disbelief.  The flamingo is a magnificent bird.  And they hold still and pose for photos.  You don’t have to track a lot of fast action here.  Just take your time and setup the photo you want to make.

If you don’t pull in close you will get things in your frame that are distracting.  In this case the railing can be easily cropped out, but if you wanted to make a photo of a flamingo standing on one leg, you would have to do something about the tag on their legs.  Either you would have to find one with the appropriate tag hidden, or you would have to work some magic in an image manipulation program to create that photo.

There are more things to photograph at a zoo than just animals.  Zoos will often import plants native to the animal’s natural habitat.  This is to create a more real and natural surround for the animal, but it is also for the visitors.  So be aware that you can get a wide range of exotic photos that will help you get out of that rut.

And finally, one thing to keep in mind, you may have to check with the zoo if you want to sell any of your photos and see what restrictions you may fall under.