Shooting at the zoo should be safe both for you and the animals, so there are a few things we all know we shouldn't do at the zoo. While the animals can growl at you, you are not allowed to grow, yell, or shout back. You shouldn't heckle them, throw anything at them to get their attention, or jump into the enclosures to get a closer shot. All of us know this, I hope, so what can we do to get attention of animals' attention?
The best thing to do is to go off and come another time, however, this might not be possible for many people. What you can do depends on what kind of animal it is, its exhibit, and how far it is from you.
Some animals don't need much to be attentive to your presence. Prairie dogs, one of my favorite to shoot, are already attuned to detecting predators. You don't have to do anything to attract their attention. Soon as you arrive, they'll be scrutinizing you. If they get ignore you, a slight cough will get their attention. Please don't yell at them. Sometimes, however, a slight noise after they've become acclimated to your presence will get them scampering. You don't want to do this, so the best is to let them get used to you then just get the shot they present you.
An unexaggerated cough is all you need for most animals. You might not want to do it for some of them, however. Some birds, such as ducks and geese, will be scared off. If they're not looking at you, be patient and wait for them or just move on to other animals.
The most you can accomplish with this is just to get them to look in your direction. If you notice the animals getting jittery, you need to stop and possibly even move away and let it calm down. I tried the cough/clearing throat move on the warthog at the local zoo and it stopped to look squarely at me, but then started dashing back and forth, clearly unnerved. I moved away and haven't done the same at his exhibit.
If the animal is a fish, you need more than luck for the fish to notice you. You just have to study their behavior and movements to position yourself to get the shot you need.
When you go shooting at the zoo, seek to understand the animal first. Even when the animal seems like it's doing nothing, snap a few shots to study later on. Zoom in to observe its facial expressions. What are its eyes indicating? What does its body language say about your or other zoogoers' presence?
If the exhibit is indoors and animals are protected by glass, coughing won't get the animals attention. In this case I'll stand in front of the exhibit until the animal notices me then I'll begin to shoot. Take note of the animal's behavior, though. Once shooting a blue iguana its head began bobbing up and down in a threatening manner as soon as I arrived. I quickly took a shot or two then stepped away. A few minute later I came back and it wasn't doing it, so I stayed longer and took more pics.
If taunted and feeling threatened, animals won't hesitate to strike at you. The bad thing here is that there's glass between them and you, and this might seriously hurt them. So, if you see an animal getting irritated, please move on...you have too much of its attention.
Also, some animals are attracted to certain colors, so you can choose your clothes depending on which color the animal likes. I won't tell you which, so you need to do your research and experiment with the animals you like to shoot at your zoo. One large cat at our local zoo is attracted by red, maybe because its the color of lunch. Every time you wear red and near his exhibit he moves towards you. I found this out by accident as a friend I was with was wearing red.
Please remember, these animals don't need to be heckled to attract their attention. Treat them respectfully and they will give you good shots. Remember they're intelligent beings who are capable of recognizing you, so work on being on their good side.
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