In Washington, DC, at the National Zoo, the lions are fully outside but you are a lot further from them so you will need a 300mm with a teleconverter or a 400mm. When I say far away I mean FAR AWAY...my 300mm couldn't fill up the frame without showing a lot of the background, which I avoid doing so as to project them in the wild.
The shots I will show here were all taken at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore which has a couple of lions, a male and a female. The lions are not particularly active at any specific time that I know of, so you will more than likely find them lying down or in one spot they seem to like. The good thing is the spot is great for shooting their portrait.
As usual for outdoor exhibits, I used a Canon 300mm F4L IS on a Canon 1D Mark II and edited in Lightroom 3. For some of the shots, I had to remove a blue tint because of the glass reflecting the sky. Took all precautions I take while shooting through glass, but sometimes things just happen how they want, which is why we have computers and software to fix that.
Shot of lion and lioness resting while looking in opposite directions.
The lion posing for me. His intense gaze every time I go by his exhibit makes me wonder whether he has never seen a handsome fellow before, or whether I'm the biggest antelope he's ever seen. Hope it's the first.
Here he looks like he's about to attack but he's really just getting ready to lay down. The intensity of his gaze is scary, though...I'm very glad for the invention of glass.
Lying down with paws crossed.
He's a good model whenever I pass by his exhibit. The lioness is normally in a spot with a fence showing prominently in the background, so her pictures will definitely come out as having been taken in a zoo.
If your zoo has a way to project these majestic kings of the veld as being in their natural environment, try to bring that in the images. If not, try to take portraits seemingly depicting them in the wild.
Good luck and happy shooting!!!
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