Chester Zoo Photography tips

LeeMac13

LeeMac13

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone, im off to visit this sunday and wondered if anybody had any tips for me when taking photos like how to get round the fact that some of the animals are surround by bars or cages for lack of a better word and also how to avoid reflections or glare from the perspex.
 
Bars/cages: get as close to the bars as possible so they take up as little of the picture as possible. Use a long zoom to zoom in on the subject and eliminate the bars from the photos.

Perspex/glass: shoot at an angle to avoid reflections, and check your viewfinder to make sure you're not including the reflections of bright coats/bags etc.

Good luck, and show us the results!
 
LeeMac13 said:
Hi everyone, im off to visit this sunday and wondered if anybody had any tips for me when taking photos like how to get round the fact that some of the animals are surround by bars or cages for lack of a better word and also how to avoid reflections or glare from the perspex.
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It really depends on your camera and equipment. I bought my lenses with zoo photography in mind. Longer telescopic lenses can be used to focus on animals that are a fair distance from the mesh/bars and render the cage virtually invisible. If the animal is in close proximity to the cage wall it is virtually impossible to make the photo look natural. Glass can also be tricky, wear black to avoid reflections and try to ensure no-one is standing behind you. Avoid flash or use an off camera flash that can be moved away from the direct frame that you are capturing to remove the glare. Holding the lenses right next to the glass enclosure can help too as does standing at a 45 degree angle to the glass. If you are using a point and shoot camera without a decent zoom you are going to struggle regardlessly.
 
I use a Canon EOS 30D and Sigma 50-500mm zoom lens which is probably overkill for what you need, but I use it for other things and it comes in handy for those animals who are smaller or further away! I'd recommend any Canon SLR though. When got the 10D that I had before this one, it was pretty much identical in specs to the corresponding entry level SRL. It only won on frame rate which I wanted for motorsport photography. A 1000D or 450D would be fine, or a second-hand one of the older models. You won't get the point-and-shoot shutter lag and you can upgrade lenses at a later date.

My profile has a link to my photo pages if you want to get some idea of what the camera can do.
 
Use black clothes to eliminate the reflections on the glass. Subexposing the photo also helps (sometimes) to dissimulate reflections.
 
Also, beware of using flash against bars/wire. Even if you've focused through it, the flash will highlight the wires.
 
Maisie said:
I use a Canon EOS 30D and Sigma 50-500mm zoom lens which is probably overkill for what you need, but I use it for other things and it comes in handy for those animals who are smaller or further away! I'd recommend any Canon SLR though. When got the 10D that I had before this one, it was pretty much identical in specs to the corresponding entry level SRL. It only won on frame rate which I wanted for motorsport photography. A 1000D or 450D would be fine, or a second-hand one of the older models. You won't get the point-and-shoot shutter lag and you can upgrade lenses at a later date.

My profile has a link to my photo pages if you want to get some idea of what the camera can do.
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I would also recommend the sigma 50-500mm lens, I the 170-500mm on my Sony, both are big and relatively slow due to the aperature size, so a tripod is usually necessary to keep your pictures sharp. Lenses that are shorter but have a larger aperature are more expensive but can you give you much sharper pictures, especially for the faster moving animals, I use a 70-200mm F2.8 for the shorter range work which is why I went for the 170-500mm not the 50-500mm
 
Call me crazy, but I usually hand-hold my 50-500 rather than carry a cumbersome tripod around with me. It probably explains why my arms and shoulders are usually mullered when I get to work on a Monday ;) I have taken the tripod to the zoo once and got some very sharp photos (mostly of British wildlife lurking around the place for some reason), but I normally get acceptable photos without it.
 
Well I've taken photos at Chester since the early 1960s, so it's hard to summarise everything I've learned into a few tips. But here goes:-
  • get the lens close to the fence, if you can do so safely
  • get the subject big in your viewfinder
  • try to get a plain background behind your subject
  • when shooting through glass, keep the lens against the glass (a rubber lens hood is ideal)
  • if you're shooting digitally, review your images immediately
  • try to take a few shots of each subject - pick the best one afterwards
  • use your legs to find animals in easy places to shoot and doing interesting things
The last one is the most important. There's not much point in trying to shoot an animal that's asleep or in the far corner of its enclosure. There are hundreds of wonderful subjects at the zoo, but many will not be co-operative when you visit. Leave them for next time, move on and find something that looks better.
In my experience the most reliable subjects include:-
  • elephants (of course)
  • onagers
  • giraffes (and check the okapis too)
  • chimps (shoot from the corners by the orangs or the hyacinthine macaws)
  • reptiles (I usually go through the Tropical Realm twice on each visit to check which ones are posing nicely near the glass)
  • blue-throated macaws
  • penguins & black vultures
  • Komodo dragons
  • meerkats, mongooses & prairie dogs
  • otters
  • rheas & emus
But you could strike lucky with rhinos or cheetahs or bush dogs or almost anything - which is why the legwork is so important :)
Happy shooting!

Alan
 
A little tip regarding subjects of photos...

take one of the free leaflets that they hand you at the entrance and make a note of the feeding or talk times. Usually shy, retiring animals become active at these times such as Jaguars, Lions, Tigers and Red Pandas.

Get yourself to the talk 10mins before schedule and find yourself a good spot for the shot (perhaps where the keepers are putting the food) and just wait. You'll be first in line meaning no competition for a good angle.
 
Some animals are more active first thing at the beginning and end of the day, so arrive early and leave late (as a fellow zoo fan, I'm sure you don't need to be told ;))

I got a great shot of Strolch the spectacled bear (R.I.P.) posing at the front of his enclosure, about five minutes before the zoo closed.
 
Chris79 said:
Some animals are more active first thing at the beginning and end of the day, so arrive early and leave late (as a fellow zoo fan, I'm sure you don't need to be told ;))

I got a great shot of Strolch the spectacled bear (R.I.P.) posing at the front of his enclosure, about five minutes before the zoo closed.
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Early in the morning is also a good time to catch the bear.
 
some great advice already. i usually try watch for a good few minutes before putting my camera upto my face. try watch a bit of behavior before you start shoot. it will save having 100;s of photos to filter out later. im always surprised how quickly the time flies and never get round as much as i'd like. here's where i would avoid going in hope it gives you more time with good/photogenic animals...
• Recently went into butterfly house. waste of time. took 10mins to get lens acclimatised, then found all flowers are fake and ugly so didnt get any natural photos.
• Jaguars are really hard to get good images of indoors... plus they dont look happy. outside they come to life but youve gotta be lucky to get them playing out
• leaf cutter ants hard to get a good photo of too - quite dark and hard to get close - plus a bit steamy.
• aquarium is a bit grim, although great if you're into fish. i dont usually bother.
• meerkats (by rhinos) better later in day otherwise youre shooting into the sun
• bat house is a no go for photos really
hope that is of some help!
Enjoy!
 
thanks everybody for your advice an tips il definetly put them into practice on sunday an will post the pics i take so you can see :)
 
Tip for the butterfly house: there's a nice air blower by the exit door that's ideal for de-steaming your camera in record time. I found it very useful when my whole camera and lens were dripping with condensation within seconds of getting in there ;)
 
bars/mesh: Long lens (like others have said). I would add to not shoot in automatic exposure mode, but switch to Aperture Priority (or Manual) and set the camera to its largest aperture (largest lens opening). Remember, this is actually the smallest number. It will vary depending on the lens (could be 5.6 or 4 or even 2.8 on an expensive lens). But if you're not sure, just turn the aperture dial until the numbers won't go any lower. This gives you the least area of focus, blurring out the wires and the background (sometimes).

glass glare: I always keep a black cloth in my camera bag to shade the glass and eliminate glare (putting lens right up against glass).
 
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