Zoo Photography: Patience

It's been wisely said for ages that patience is a virtue, and there is perhaps no profession in which this is most evident than photography. Photographers know that you have to anticipate and wait. wait. wait. and more wait. Zoo photography requires the same thing. You have to know your subject, anticipate what they will do, and put yourself in the best position to get the shot you want.

Yesterday I visited the zoo for the first time in a few weeks and I only had about 90 minutes before closing time. I couldn't afford to see the whole zoo so I made a beeline for the animals I like to shoot the most around this time of the year.

The prairie dogs were my first stop. Prairie dogs, around this time, have shiny brown coats that look best under a cloudless sun. When I reached them, the sun was bobbing back and forth behind some patchy clouds. I waited until I got the light I wanted, took a few shots, and was fairly happy with the few shots I got. These guys are hands-down my favorite subjects year-round at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.

Next, I visited the African Aviary where I was rewarded with one of the subjects that have not given me many good shot opportunities: The Little Blue Heron. This little beautiful bird tends to stay near the fence where it's impossible to get a good shot that doesn't look like it was taken at the zoo. This time, however, it was in the middle of the exhibit and allowed me to get pretty good shots.

I was also lucky that it was a relatively quiet day at the zoo and the animals seemed more relaxed.

After that I hung around the gazelles before heading to the lions. I hung around hoping for a good shot, knowing that on cool days, they are more likely to move around in a particular location. I hunkered down and waited for my shot. I wasn't disappointed.

Patience doesn't mean you will get the shot that day, it just means that you might get your shot a few months down the road. Be patient, anticipate, and always keep hope that the animals will be kind enough to give you a good shot.

***Please note that I don't agitate animals. Hassan, the lion, wasn't snarling at me. This is the back end of a yawn.

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Zoo Photography: Lions

Photographing lions, as with any other animal, will depend on what kind of exhibit the zoo has them in. At the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, they're outside but you can see them through glass. There are no fences, just a solid wall with three large glass openings for viewing. In Syracuse, the exhibit was actually indoors while the lions playing area is outside. This required different settings and lenses as the lions were somewhat closer.

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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