I think it was meant to be placed on this thread - Name that zoo - because they were next to each other on the "new posts" list at the time of posting.
Animals That You Have No Luck With
- Thread starter Moebelle
- Start date
If this hypothesis is correct, the post in question is not just misplaced but ungrammatical too, since the image in question clearly shows two species.
I don´t have any luck with Dortmund´s badgers, for example...
Will turn 40 this year and I visit the Dortmund Zoo for more than 39 years, but the badgers are always asleep...
It is also tricky to get a good photo of the Palm Civets in Dortmund as well, due to their enclosure! But maybe it will be better after their move to the old Amur cat enclosure later this year.
Will turn 40 this year and I visit the Dortmund Zoo for more than 39 years, but the badgers are always asleep...
It is also tricky to get a good photo of the Palm Civets in Dortmund as well, due to their enclosure! But maybe it will be better after their move to the old Amur cat enclosure later this year.
drill
Well-Known Member
Sorry wrong thread.A deliberate riddle for us to solve, or have you merely forgotten to mention the species?
As others have said it is generally the design of an enclosure / lack of light / terrible glass etc that causes my issues - but I do seem to have a bit of a block where adult giraffe and adult rhino are concerned. Possibly because they are not often doing anything 'exciting' and I struggle to take a compelling straight up portrait shot of them.
Yup - tried all that with minimal success. I have one mono photo of a giraffe that I am happy with. I have 'ok' rhino shots but nothing I am particularly proud of.
littleRedPanda
Well-Known Member
My biggest struggle is dark animals, when there are other things that the camera finds more appealing to focus on ... like blades of grass 
azcheetah2
Well-Known Member
Fishing Cats and Black-footed Cats. Not many zoos, especially on the west coast, have them and I've been to ones that have them but I have never seen them, even with tips on where to look.
cloudedleopard611
Well-Known Member
I always struggle with extremely large animals (elephant, rhino, hippo, giraffe, polar bear) because they take so much space and I find that makes it really hard to compose photos.
littleRedPanda
Well-Known Member
Fast small animals are harder to 'compose' in my opinion, especially through a wire fence in a 'messy' enclosure. I went to see the bear cubs at Noah's Ark (UK) and the grass was as tall as them adding to the challenge of the fence and other obstacles. Great to see short glimpses of them scampering around, but a pain to photograph.
Some animals I have been unlucky with:
- Elephants: big for a total photo with surrounding, so often not a nice scene. Character hard to catch in a photo. Detail photos all have been done in the past, difficult to do something new.
- Snow leopards: one big string of zoo visits with poor enclosures for photography (wires/fences/dirty or scratched windows) or poor cooperation of the snow leopard (not a nice position/always sleeping/hiding behind mock-rock)
- Elephants: big for a total photo with surrounding, so often not a nice scene. Character hard to catch in a photo. Detail photos all have been done in the past, difficult to do something new.
- Snow leopards: one big string of zoo visits with poor enclosures for photography (wires/fences/dirty or scratched windows) or poor cooperation of the snow leopard (not a nice position/always sleeping/hiding behind mock-rock)
There are some nice exhibits in europe where you can try your luck. Zoo Basel, Zoo Zurich, Safari de Peaugres and closer to the Netherlands the newest enclosure in Pairi Daiza. The Koelner Zoo is more difficult with the scratched windows.
My nemesis to shoot in zoos, are arboreal squirrels. I haven't got a good picture of one yet. Ground squirrels are easier. Plenty of decent shot of Greys in the wild, as they sit on tree stumps, or forage in the leaf litter and are not really bothered by humans. But squirrels in zoos seem to be highly active, and when they're not leaping about, they're climbing the mesh. A few years ago I tried for ages to get a good shot of a Prevost's Squirrel, only to find that it was blurry or I'd only got part of the animal in the shot.
I agree with the elephant sentiment particularly in city zoos such as Berlin Zoo - they have a nice bull elephant there with a nice pair of tusks - but he seems to walk around the same area [when I visited anyways] and so a full shot is hard to get, though 'detail' shots are doable. In another yard were a herd of cow-elephants, in the distance - so easier to photograph, but not really doing anything notable imo. That said, I have seen elephants at Whipsnade very active and acting nicely - nice to see, and perhaps to photograph.
Snow leopards I have only ever had no-show once I believe - at Tierpark Berlin, though Marwell Zoo and Wildkatzenzentrum Felidae seemingly provided for myself good photo opportunities.
As for my personal sentiments - cats are something of 50/50 - either you get a nice cat photo - or the cat is curled into a ball, or hiding wherever... Larger dogs can be troublesome as well - I have been to Hamerton twice and I have seen neither the jackal or the maned wolf.. though I have now seen the latter once at Tierpark Berlin.. sleeping..! The more common [in captivity] Painted dogs have not been very co-operative either - most of the time I see them they are in a resting position..
The kiwi I managed to see [after returning to the kiwi-booth for the second time that day] at the Berlin Zoo was perhaps one of the highlights of my day there - but obviously I did not get any photographs out of it.
cloudedleopard611
Well-Known Member
Wow, you really hit the nail on the head with everything you said. This is why I consider zoo photography its own distinct genre of photography, separate from wildlife photography, While there's obvious overlap, zoo photography presents a unique set of challenges. It really rubs me the wrong way when people say that photographing animals in captive settings is somehow cheating. Sure, zoos do add a lot of convivence to photographing animals, but with that comes many constraints that don't exist in natural settings.Enclosures are a huge part of the problem; especially any where you've got two layers of protection. Often wire on the cage and then a further barrier (eg fence line) that keeps people back; because then you often cant shoot through the wire by getting your lens up close to it; and very few enclosures offer a very long depth to allow you to focus far into them to get to the subject.
The other things that often get annoying are reflections or marks on the glass (marks on both sides!) or very close-up enclosures (I tend to end up with a long lens fitted so don't tend to carry a shorter lens - weakness of DSLR and being lazy).
Indoors is also a major challenge because even if the animals are not light sensitive; most indoor areas that are bright enough for eyes are dim for cameras; to say nothing of the challenge of mixed light where you've got shade and natural light spilling in from windows.
cloudedleopard611
Well-Known Member
I haven't really dealt with that until now as most enclosures like that at the St. Louis Zoo hold fairly large animals that aren't particularly active. However, a couple days ago I tried to photograph the new Amur leopard cubs and definitely found that to be the case Their exhibit looks like this for reference (it will say serval exhibit, the Big Cat Country mesh-topped enclosures are rotated fairly frequently).
There are many species of birds that I have not been able to get a decent shot of. Some in zoos, but mainly in the wild. Often, just about to take the photo when the bird moves!
littleRedPanda
Well-Known Member
'Babies' present the extra challenge of jostling with more visitors too
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