Tips for Photography in a Zoological Park

Many amateur photographers, at some time or other, consider wide-life photography as a genre they would like to pursue.   Serious wildlife photography, however, involves considerable investment in equipment, time, money and most importantly, patience. One may end up in a reserve forest with heavy equipment for hours together without a single sighting of the animal or bird he or she has been waiting for. This is where a visit to a zoo in your city becomes a promising proposition. Most large cities have zoological parks. One can take fairly decent wildlife pictures in a zoo with minimum investment in equipment, time and money. While this is surely not a substitute for true wild-life photography, it may be a more viable option for many. If you intend to take reasonably good images of birds and animals in a zoo these tips may be of some help to you.

1. Try to visit the zoo on a working day. This may involve taking a day off from work but will surely help you in getting some great images. On weekends these places are too crowded and noisy. It is important to find out the day when the park is closed. Just imagine travelling all the way to a park like the Bannerghatta National park, Bangalore on a Tuesday and realising that it is their off day!

2. Start as early as possible. It is best to be there as soon as the place opens. The animals will be in a more relaxed state and the place will be clean. The lighting also will be better early in the morning.

3. It is better to go with minimum equipment. If you have a DSLR, the kit lens is quite adequate. If you are using a compact camera or a ‘bridge’camera make sure you are familiar with the operation of optical zoom feature. In fact even if you have no camera, your mobile phone can take reasonably good images.

4. One of the major challenges of taking images in a zoo is that very often one has to take images through a wire mesh which forms an integral part of the animal ‘cage’. Sometimes this mesh is so small that it is impossible for your camera lens to get an unobstructed view of the animals inside (this is where a mobile phone camera wins hands down as the lens is usually small enough to clear the wire mesh). There are some tricks to overcome this problem. Bring in your lens as close to the mesh as possible.  If possible, bring it flush with the mesh. If using a zoom lens, zoom in as much as you can. If your camera has manual mode or aperture priority mode (TV mode in Canon), open up the aperture to the maximum (the smallest f/ stop number). Larger the aperture, the better. If you are not able to go close enough to the mesh your autofocus may try to focus on the mesh rather than the subject. If this happens, resort to manual focusing. Now gently press the shutter release. In all probability, you will get a reasonably good image without the mesh.



Image taken on a mobile phone to show the size of the mesh. Mobile phone image by Ms. Preethi Nair

Image taken on mobile phone by placing the lens on the gap in the mesh. Mobile phone image by Ms. Preethi Nair

 

Image taken on a DSLR using wide aperture technique to eliminate the mesh

 

Iguana- photographed through the mesh on DSLR using large aperture. Mesh totally eliminated

5. Shoot from as many angles as possible.

6. Do not use Flash.

7. Be as quiet and as unobtrusive as you can. Your movements may irritate the animals and they may move away.

8. If an animal is sleeping do not make noises to wake it. Respect the animals’ need to rest. Moreover, remember sleeping animals also make good pictures.

9. While in a zoo do not ignore the flora and fauna around you. You may get some excellent images of flowers and butterflies if you look around.

Image taken on a mobile phone at Bannerghatta National Park. Mobile phone image by Ms Preethi Nair



Colourful plant captured at Bannerghatta National Park

        

A DSLR image taken at Bannerghatta park

Please see the Photo Gallery section for more images taken during my visit to Bannerghatta National Park, Bangalore