HOME | DD
OrangeRoom β Zoo Photography Tutorial - Getting Started
by-nc-nd
Published: 2013-04-07 12:50:27 +0000 UTC; Views: 2877; Favourites: 41; Downloads: 15
Redirect to original
Description
Well, finally I'm done with my first Zoo photography tutorial. I know you were asking about different tutorial and there are a lot of reading, but first of all I wrote about things which I think you should know before going to the zoo. I really hope there'll be no "Holly war" against me cuz of some things I've said there
Hope you'll like it. Waiting for your comments and suggestions.
Next tutorial is going to be "About how to take photos through dirty glass, fences and bars" and I hope with some photos and pictures
Great and special thanks to for a lot of help and corrections! Go check him out!
Don't miss the 2nd Tutorial about how to take photos through different fences!
And don't forget to join my group there are a lot of great photos and tutorials!
Related content
Comments: 38
I enjoyed this piece very much,Β and the 2nd tutorial was most helpful. Well done. I was in Moscow 15 years ago, but missed the chance to see the zoo.
π: 0 β©: 1
Very glad that you like it
π: 0 β©: 0
This is a very helpful tutorial. Thank you
π: 0 β©: 1
You mentioned a lot of good points.
And I experience some of tose foolish identity mistakes too. Thinking the foxes are baby wolves (Though in separate enclosures) Thinking the coots in the water are baby swans, when the coots have their own offspring, saying the Siberian Tigers ain't cause those are the biggest (the tigers are young adults) and they are "normal tigers" 
And about identifying the animals, I recently started taking photos of the identifying cards. Also comes in handy for they usually sport a picture of the animal, so you remember what name belonged to which animal
π: 0 β©: 1
And I just writing down the information from those cards in to my MAGIC notebook. Sometimes it's good to save free space on memory card
Don't forget to read my 2nd tutorial
π: 0 β©: 1
Very true, but I guess I don't make that many photo's at one moment to worry about my memory card
And I have read and faved your both your tutorials
π: 0 β©: 0
Nice and helpfull zoo tutorial! Thanks a lot for making it.
π: 0 β©: 1
Very nice one.
I only have a few comments - regarding point 3), it's usually quite fine (and fun) to go with other photographers. What doesn't work is taking family or non-photographing friends, as they are soon going to start complaining that "you're standing in front of that exhibit for an hour already)
It took me a while before I realized that by notebook you don't mean heavy and unwieldy piece of hardware. New era I guess
Tripod and monopod are fairly advanced pieces of equipment for animal photography. Only major use I found for tripod is support of a heavy lens. If your arms are getting tired of holding your camera while you wait for a perfect shot, monopod is your friend.
And obligatory (and not photography related) - idealization of animals is just as common as antropomorpfization. They have their own share of quirks, odd social or sexual behavior (some sex related some not) and definitely aren't those pristine little creatures so much better then human 
π: 0 β©: 1
Hehe. You may be right about Point 3, but I wrote what I feel
About tripod - it's impossible for me to use it for the most of the photos cuz of glass, fences and bars. A specially with those thin web fences! In Moscow zoo, you have to band over bars to get closer to a fence to take a photo of fast moving ____ (for example big cat), so if you don't want fences to on your shot, you can use mono or tripod. And I have to deal with the weight of my lens with my bare hands. I'll describe all of this in my next tutorial.
About notebook, may be I should have add pictures in this tutorial after all
I'm afraid I haven't get it right about point 6
π: 0 β©: 1
Monopod generally doesn't limit you even when you're bending over something (can even be beneficial, since in those awkward position, it's often difficult to hold your camera steady without support). Problems are bushes and pits (it doesn't fit into first and has no support in latter), but detaching/attaching is a matter of seconds.
My comment about point six just was that animals are wonderful, but people tend to idolize them. They have no less flaws then humans, just different kind
π: 0 β©: 0
I'm not much of a photographer, just a hobbyist right now, but I found this useful. 
π: 0 β©: 1
Well I guess it's quite hard to know everything about snakes and difference between them, as someones never own and learn about those. And you know, that people usually don't like snakes.
Well I use my notebook not only to note scientific names. I'm not some kind of "knowing everything naturalist". Even If i know about big and small cats and dogs, yet I can't remember all the bird or insects or snake names, or names of some small or medium mammals
π: 0 β©: 1
That's true, but you'd think they'd at least know the common ones that could kill them. For people who do like snakes, though, it's fairly easy to tell the difference. I really love snakes, and there's many ways to tell the difference between similar-looking species that can be learned. I think people should at least learn to recognize their most common venomous species if nothing else, so they don't get hurt or killed. Oh, I'm not good with the every type of animal, either, don't get me wrong. I do spend a lot of time looking up species, though, and I have a fairly wide knowledge of many different types of animals, especially the ones that are common in zoos. This is mostly due to my changing favors towards different animals, like I used to like big cats, then wild dogs, then birds, and now snakes, etc. I also find it fun just to research new species, and I save one or two photos of each species as reference, so it's easy to go back over the ones I've found.
π: 0 β©: 1
About snakes.
We've got only 2 type of snakes around Moscow, Viper and Grass snake. As far as they looks quite the same in the grass, we've been thought to afraid of any snakes we see
π: 0 β©: 1
I wouldn't either.
π: 0 β©: 1
Grass snake play dead
π: 0 β©: 0
There are alot of things you mention I never thought of as non-photographer. That's very well done!
btw I spotted two typos. One in the main Title and one at point 4), both are "goint to" instead of "going to", I just thought I should tell you.
π: 0 β©: 1
Too lazy to fix it. Yet may be I should
π: 0 β©: 0
I've been meaning to take a notebook with me to the zoo, but I always forget to pack one down.
I recently bought a notebook that I'll use for my zoo visiting
I've been thought something similar to the snow leopard thing. This family was standing and
guessing which animals they were watching, (it was cheetahs), and they kept saying leopard, tiger and other
big cat animals. I'm to afraid to talk to stranger, so I didn't find the courage to correct them, haha :c
This tutorial is amazing, you should keep it up!
π: 0 β©: 1
" I didn't find the courage to correct them" I guess it's ok. I think you just wasn't pissed out yet with those 
Last time I was at the zoo there were people who called Jaguar - "Bengal Tiger"
π: 0 β©: 1
Might be that it's too much to read, but I found it interesting
My sister was with me when they were talking about the cheetahs and
she got more annoyed at them than me. I'm aware of that some people
don't know what animals they're looking at or too lazy to read the
description about the animals, even if it's right in front of them, haha
π: 0 β©: 1
95% of people are idiots, I guess
π: 0 β©: 1
I always wear dark (navy blue, brown, black, dark grey) clothes to the zoo as well so my clothes don't leave reflections on the glass.
π: 0 β©: 1
It's quite a good idea. When it's winter I wear black "Pea coat".
I want to make next tutorial about shooting through glass and fences. But the problem is, that I don't have assistant who will help me and take some shots of me taking photos
π: 0 β©: 1
I use a black cloth to cover up the white L lens too, sometimes.
Hm, maybe just ask a family member to come along? Even if they're bad quality, all that matters is that is shows the method, right?
π: 0 β©: 1
everyone are busy 
π: 0 β©: 1
Maybe take an extra camera and ask a stranger to take the pic? Maybe they'll help.
π: 0 β©: 1
I know that the stranger wouldn't make the photos I needed, as far as I will have to give a lot of explanations. So this tutorial will have to wait for a "better times"
π: 0 β©: 1
I see. Well, I'll be looking forward to the next one whenever you find a helper!
π: 0 β©: 0
π: 0 β©: 1
of course!
i am a photographer so i know how important the equipment is!
π: 0 β©: 0