Zoo Photography: Patience and Resilience

Every nature photographer will tell you that patience should be your most cherished and practiced virtue, and that applies to those of us who find nature within the confinements of zoos. The reason for this, I believe, is that animals can be unpredictable and could care little about your interest to photograph them.

Patience, combined with resilience, will afford you the chance to observe and learn more about the animals you want to photograph and this can bring about an improvement in the quality of your shots.

Over the past couple of months, I've been visiting local zoos about once a week. This has allowed me to know more about the animals and their behavior. However, I'd been unable to shoot a few of the animals. Since I try to avoid shots that are too zoo-ey, there are several animals that I hadn't been able to shoot...actually, there are still some that I'm trying to figure out how to shoot, but these I've shot now.

The male sitatunga normally hangs out in a corner of the exhibit that's far from the observation walkway and is right by a fence and shelters. On my last visit, he ventured out in the open and I got a few shots.

The ravens have also been hard for me to shoot, but this time one of them flew down and posed for me.

I also hadn't been able to get interesting shots of the ostriches, but one of them was scratching its neck on the ground as it fed. Either that or it was turning over the ground to expose any food that might be hidden by the dirt. Looks like he's enjoying a good nap, though.

The female polar bear was more active and even jumped in the water.

I also got a few shots of the sifakas, the lemurs, but it's not because they normally don't offer good shots. Normally, there are a lot of kids around the exhibit and I don't like to disturb them, so I just go to shoot other animals since the shooting conditions are normally less than ideal anyways. The reflections on the glass are some of the hardest to eliminate. On cold days, the exhibit's warm, humid air will also create condensation on camera gear. Overall a good place to avoid as a photographer in the winter. This time, however, I managed to get off a few shots.

The more time you spend around these animals, the more you'll get to appreciate them, even when they don't present you with good shot opportunities.

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Sunset Photography

After spending almost two days indoors doing work, I decided to take my gear and walk around Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood. However, I didn't see any good opportunities to shoot, so I headed to the inner harbor and Federal hill hoping today would offer a beautiful sunset. Spring and summer sunsets are colorful in Baltimore and I haven't had an opportunity to shoot them the past few days when the days have been clear with little clouds.

I wasn't disappointed. This was one of those orange-yellow sunsets that completely inundated the cloudless sky. Since I had decided not to bring my tripod, I had to shoot at ISO 800. I also wanted to create a silhouette with the Ravens stadium so I used a 300mm lens. I underexposed by about 1/3 of a stop.

On the imageabove, I included an out-of-focus tree in the foreground to balance out the left side and add a little something to the picture.

 As I always shoot RAW, I had to adjust contrast, sharpening and noise reduction, but I didn't increase vibrance or saturation. The sky really was that orange. I then cropped the image to 1x3 aspect.

Overall, glad I headed out and worked on my sunset photography rather than sticking indoors.

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Zoo Photography: Flamingos

Few birds are as attractive to zoo-goers as flamingos. They're large, pretty, weird, and just so alluring. They're also fun to photograph.
While the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, my local zoo, has them, they're not available for visitor viewing. To see them I have to drive to the National Zoo in Washington, DC, which is about an hour's drive from where I live. Due to this, I haven't been able to go as many times as I would like to try different shooting techniques on them.

There are several problems that I ran into while shooting the National Zoo's flamingos. The first was that the bright, undiffused sunlight reflects harshly off the bird's feathers. It's like shooting a bright flower in bright sunlight, you lose detail in the subject.

The second issue was the dark shadow background in the flamingos' exhibit. This might actually have helped mask the unnatural environment, but it created a very contrasting image, not to mention playing tricks on the camera's sensor.

I will have to go photography them on a cloudy day to see if it makes any difference. Normally, I prefer to shoot bright animals, especially birds, on cloudy days because you are able to get details in the feathers. I would also like to see if shooting at f/8 instead of f/5.6 would make a difference in the final images.

It will take some time to figure all this out for myself as I only go to the National Zoo about once a month, compared to 3-4 trips a month I make to the Maryland Zoo, so I would love to hear from those who have mastered photographing these beautiful birds, and those who have run into other issues photographing them.

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Shots From Today's Zoo Visit

Having been unable to visit the zoo over the weekend, a sunny Monday was all the motivation I needed to head over there and see the animals. I have always had a love for animals since my young days, and visiting them at the zoo is an opportunity to increase my knowledge about them and meditate a little. 

Since it was Presidents Day and many people were off, the place was teeming with families, which meant having to steer clear of strollers and little running forms more suited for the demolition derby than the zoo's pathways. I still managed to see most of the animals, including some of my favorite ones. Here are the pics below. 

This time I photographed giraffe-feeding from downhill, having a different aspect from before.

To me, the sitatunga is a fascinating animal. I was completely unaware of them until recently even though I was a wildlife buff and lived in many countries where they're found as a kid. For some reason, only the females venture close to the pathway while the male remains near a chain-link fence that doesn't allow for a good photo.
When chased by predators, these swamp antelopes can hide submerged with only their noses showing.

This is Cactus, a Harris Hawk, one of the zoo's animal ambassadors. First time encountering him. Every time I go to the zoo on a nice day I meet at least one. They're easy to photography because they are not in enclosures and are used to being close to people.

The polar bear was out today but he was foaming at the mouth. Don't know if it's because he was angry at the crowds, because of his dental problems, or for another reason. Either way, I'm sure he's not too happy about missing snow this winter.

There are three arctic foxes at the zoo and she is by far my favorite one. She's little and is bullied by the male in the same enclosure, but she's just a snuggie furry ball. When I got there she moved from a log where she was sleeping and went in an open space that was much better to photography. Though I've been to the zoo multiple times before and always pass by this exhibit, this is the first time I've shot her without obstructions.

This is the friendliest animal- to me- at the zoo. A cotswold sheep, it will come to be petted soon as you approach the sheep pen in the Farmyard area. I have had all three take turns at being petted and push each other out of the way every few seconds or so. With farmyard animals, you don't have to isolate them because no one will really believe they're wild. You can show fences and barns to put them in a familiar environment.
You have to be careful petting animals as they can bite or hurt you. And just because they're farm animals doesn't mean you can feed them. The zoo has strict, measured diets for them.

One of the two Miniature Mediterranean Donkeys at the zoo. These guys are also a lot of fun to observe and shoot. They'll play with each other and appreciate a rub as much as the sheep. Always remember to wash your hands with soap after petting animals. 

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Zoo Photography: Animal-Human Interactions

Most, if not all, zoos have some type of human-animal interactions that are good photo opportunities. These include animal rides, petting, feeding, and others. The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore has a giraffe-feeding station that presents great shots if timed right.

On one of my recent visits to the zoo, I reached the feeding station just as a young child was asking her parents if she could feed the giraffe. Being that I had a 300mm lens on the camera, I was still trying to position myself right when she fed the giraffe. The images I got either showed hers or the giraffe's face, but not both. I wanted to show the relationship between the two and I felt I didn't really show it with any of the pics. 

Luckily, she asked if she could do it again, and this allowed me to capture the image I wanted. 

While this showed both the giraffe and the child, an image from her first feeding attempt is actually my favorite. 

Humans shouldn't always be excluded from your zoo photographs. They can add a little flavor to your shots. Kids are great because their faces really show genuine wonder and bliss at witnessing and/or interacting with animals. Shoot kids petting sheep, riding ponies or camels, or just watching animals. 

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