Zebra at Taipei Zoo

I think it’s safe to say that pretty much everybody would love the opportunity to go on a safari in African, trek through an Indonesian jungle or raft down the Amazon, in search of wildlife. In reality, most people never get the chance to do this, but that doesn’t mean these animals are photographically out of bounds to you. It just means you need to take a trip to the zoo. Leaving aside any debate as to the pros and cons of zoos, one thing they do offer the photographer is a great chance to photograph some rarely seen animals. There are a few tricks we can use to help us in that, so let’s take a look at them.

One of the biggest issues you will face when shooting in the zoo is how to take shots without the wires and bars being visible. At times, there’ll be gaps between the bars that you can shoot through. These are often found close to gates to take a look and see if there are any access gates. With wire however, there’s no way to shoot through the gap, so we must shoot through the wire itself. To do this, there are a couple of simple steps to follow.

• Firstly, get as close to the cage as possible (while staying safe). With a long lens, or a point-and-shoot zoomed to its longer end, wait for the animal to get as far back from the cage as possible. Select a wide aperture in order to get a shallow depth-of-field, focus on the animal and take your shot. If your camera doesn’t allow manual control of the aperture, try setting portrait mode which should automatically select a wide aperture. In many shots taken like this, you won’t even notice the cage in the final image. Alternatively, you could step back, select a wide lens and emphasize the cage and bars as a statement on animals in captivity.

• To shoot through glass, get in close with a lens hood to minimize reflections and shoot at right angles to the glass. Make sure that your flash is turned off.

• A 200mm or 300mm lens (or 10-12x optical zoom) allow you to focus on small details of the animals. Zoom in and look for these details instead of always trying to get the entire animal in the shot.

• Plan your day. If the zoo publishes a list of feeding times, try and time your day so that you can see some of the animals being fed. Along with dawn and dusk, feeding times are when animals are at their most animated.

• Be patient. Spending a bit longer at each display will make it more likely that you’ll capture the animal in a “perfect pose”. Rushing around from animal to animal and your pictures will look hurried.

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