TIPS

adrian1963

adrian1963

Well-Known Member
We all have our own way of taking photographs in our local and other animal collections I have looked through most of the threads on here and I have not found one where we can pass on our own little tips to each other

There have been many great photographs taken in the last year some have been from different angles so I would like to know what tips you have that you can pass on to others so as to improve the photography quality again next year

Here are some of mine this is based around the worst enemy of most photographers GLASS

Glass is a real challenge in zoos these days because more zoos are making the indoor area more accessible to the public.
Not only is it hard to get a sharp and clear shot, but some zoos don’t clean the glass every day and the glass as become smudged from people putting their greasy hands and heads up against it to see the animals inside.
This then becomes a problem as taking photographs through it will end up as just blurred photographs and basically a waste of time

Here are some great tips I have picked up over the last year

Make sure you have a clothe with you so you can wipe the glass so as to clean an area for you to take your photograph through

Use a lens hood and place directly against the glass this will give you a area clear against the glass to take your photograph from.

Take a black towel or large piece of clothe as to cover the area of your clothing that is being reflected in the glass

My latest tip is to take a piece of black A4 card and cut a hole in the middle of the card, this hole is to be the same size as the end of your lens you are going to use, fit the card on the end of the camera lens and place against the glass this will give you a large clear area with no reflections.

I hope you find these little tips helpful.
So come on let's here what works for you.
 
thanks for the tips, taking photos through the glass is always a major challenge. i haven't heard the tip about the black towel or piece of card before, i will give try these out on my next zoo visit and hopefully i will manage to get better photos.
 
Depending on the angle of the light, a polarising filter can be a useful tool when trying to combat reflections. If considering one, shop around and look for something that allows as much light through as possible, although that is directly proportional to cost.
 
Although it isn't a technical tip, always try and find out what times animals are active, as well as what time certain areas of a zoo are busy. For example, if a cat/bear is given enrichment daily somewhere between 2-3pm, get there just before 2 and pitch the camera. You'll get a better shot of a bear with a watermelon than of a tiger pacing up and down.
 
SMR said:
Depending on the angle of the light, a polarising filter can be a useful tool when trying to combat reflections. If considering one, shop around and look for something that allows as much light through as possible, although that is directly proportional to cost.
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i've tried using a polarising filter to help minimise reflections, but i found it made my photos quite dark. i bought a mid-range filter, so maybe i just need a better one?
 
macca said:
i've tried using a polarising filter to help minimise reflections, but i found it made my photos quite dark. i bought a mid-range filter, so maybe i just need a better one?
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Normally you'd compensate for the filter by either using a larger aperture, slower shutter speed or higher ISO (or a combination of the above), but that can involve some practical and artistic compromises.

The filter probably has some indication of how many stops it reduces the light; one of the better ones is the Hoya HD, priced about £200 for a 77mm. That said, Amazon UK have some great deals on them at the moment, many sizes are less than half price.
 
Another tip on filters I picked up to day is
If you know someone in a camera club just ask them if they know anyone who as a spare or old filter they nolonger use you may fall lucky.
If you don't know anyone try wondering around some shops that sell second hand camera's and see if they have some in the same as yours and see if they have any filters on them (as most people forget to remove the filters when selling) and ask if you can buy the filter on it's own you never know they may sell at a lot less then a new one
 
A few basic tips for improving the quality of your photos
  • keep the composition simple
  • be careful about backgrounds
  • check your exposure frequently by viewing the histograms - beware of overexposed highlights
  • use the lowest ISO setting you can get away with
  • avoid using your lens at its maximum aperture if you can
  • support your camera as well as you can so that you can use a slow shutter speed (unless the subject needs a faster one)
  • take more pictures - some of them will be blurred if you're using a slow shutter speed, so give yourself a better chance of a good one
I think all of these are basic good practice. My own personal hobbyhorse is to avoid oversaturated colours at all costs: my Nikon's default settings are quite unnatural.

Alan
 
Just a quick one Javan Rhino if this helps for future reference you can get your memory cards off e-bay 8gb for canon camera's from as little as £15.00 no p&p
 
adrian1963 said:
the worst enemy of most photographers GLASS
Click to expand...

I have two cameras that I take to the zoo - a DSLR with a zoom lens for closeups and a little Canon IXUS for wider shots of exhibits or zoo scenery.

To avoid reflections from natural light you have to have your lens up against the glass, or with something nearby to block the reflections - for the DSLR a rubber hood is the easiest option here as the edges will mold to the glass if you aren't photographing square on. The IXUS I just push the lens square up against the glass (although mainly for wide shots, the IXUS is good in reptile houses as the reptiles are often near the glass and good closeups can be had, especially considering the minimal focussing distance is 1cm).

If your flash is reflecting then the same techniques work, unless the glass is double-layered in which case the second layer will reflect and disperse the light through your image. If that's the case, or you have to stand away from the glass to get the photo, then stand at an angle to the glass and the flash will be reflected away from the lens.

The good thing about my IXUS is that, if the subject isn't moving and the light is not great, I can put the lens square against the glass and, once framed, push it hard against the glass to keep it still and that way I can have longer exposures (eg. 1 second) without the need for the flash.

:p

Hix
 
adrian1963 said:
Just a quick one Javan Rhino if this helps for future reference you can get your memory cards off e-bay 8gb for canon camera's from as little as £15.00 no p&p
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Depending on the camera, Canons use either SD or CompactFlash, so people need to be specific. It's also really important to look at the class of the card; cheap cards are often class 2 and that'll have a negative impact on the performance of some cameras. A DSLR will have buffering issues (or video recording issues if your DSLR is suitably equipped) and a video camera might not even let you select some modes. The Canon HF-S100 HD camera for example, will disable the higher quality shooting modes if you try to use anything other than class 6 cards.
 
The black cloth mentioned at the opening was going to be my tip.

As for the advice NOT to use largest aperture, I strongly disagree. You almost always WANT to use the largest aperture, as this gives the shallowest focus and allows blurring out fences and backgrounds. Only exception would be an open viewing area with a group of animals, where you want the ones behind in focus as well.

For non-photo geeks, the largest aperture is the smallest number when you are in aperture priority mode (or manual exposure mode). So if your lens dial gives you a range of numbers from 4 through 22, for example, 4 is the one that will most likely blur out the fence. Also note that if you have a consumer-grade zoom lens, the largest aperture will be more at the wider setting than at the telephoto setting. A typical example is a 70-300mm zoom, which will go to f/4 at 70mm but only to f/5.6 at telephoto. (Even if this is the case, the telephoto setting will still blur fence out better, even if it is a slightly smaller aperture).
 
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I knew someone would contradict something I wrote, and I am happy to agree to disagree up to a point.
However I am prepared to defend my original statement: I think you should always try to stop down a little (even only a third of a stop) to get better contrast and resolution from your lens - no lens gives its best performance at maximum aperture. I would also argue that you should always try to get the maximum depth of field possible to give the best chance of accurate focus on the whole subject - although I certainly accept that you have to accept a shallower depth of field than the ideal when photographing through a fence some distance away from the camera (TIP - get the front element of your lens as close to the barrier as is both safe and practicable). Stopping down is absolutely necessary when shooting small subjects in aquaria or vivaria which is almost like macrophotography where very small apertures give the best results.

Alan
 
The best way of making wire disappear is to use the largest aperture possible (with caveats about the distance between the camera and the wire), but there are compromises. Even primes are softer when wide open, although how much softer will depend on the lens and how critical you're going to be. I'd actually disagree with Alan on the macro side, my macro lenses are also softer at their largest apertures.

The real issue comes with zoom lenses; at 400mm and f/4 the DOF is often too shallow to get more than a small portion of an animal in focus (at 800mm I get about an inch in focus). That's fine if you're going for a particular "look", but has obvious drawbacks.

I'm less paranoid about ISO settings than I used to be as cameras have improved greatly in this area, I'll quite happily use ISO 1,250 to enable a smaller lens aperture and out of necessity have posted shots at ISO 5,000 into the gallery here. But... if you're going to go nuts with the ISO, I'd recommend shooting RAW and removing the noise in post, don't ever shoot JPEG and let the camera do it, the majority (all?) are far too aggressive and will remove most of the detail too.
 
When shooting through wire, I find wire painted black, and in shadows, gives the best results. If the sun is hitting the wire, the image will be washed out.

:p

Hix
 
Hix said:
When shooting through wire, I find wire painted black, and in shadows, gives the best results. If the sun is hitting the wire, the image will be washed out.
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I agree completely - that's a good tip!

Alan
 
*Go to the zoo in autumn! I don't know about everyone else, but I've been getting some great photos this season. For one, the animals are all more active because of the cooler weather. Two, since it gets darker earlier, the late afternoon lighting is wonderful for photos.
* Stay with an animal if you see it playing with an enrichment item. Chances are you get your camera out and the animal stops doing what it just did. But wait a bit and it may do it again or something just as great. Patience really can be a virtue with photography.
*Keep snapping away. You may get some awful photos, but the more you try, the better the chance you get a great photo.
 
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