Step 1 – Research

Before going to the zoo, do your homework. Go to their Website and look at the photo gallery for inspiration. Also look at a map of the grounds and prioritize which animals you’d like to shoot. Then look on the Web for animal behaviors and sleep patterns as well as scanning through images for more inspiration.

Some zoos might also have no-flash or no-tripod policies in certain areas. Make sure you know where they are prior to your arrival just in case you miss the signs (like so many seem to do).

Step 2 – The Best Time to Go

Remember that the best light is either early in the morning or a few hours before sunset so try to photograph your favorite animals during that time. Keep the indoor shots for mid-day when the sun is high in the sky. If you<re lucky to have an overcast day then enjoy shooting all day without any worries.

Seasons can also affect animal behavior so you might want to consider when you’ll be taking that long photography weekend. You might find that animals with fur coats are less likely to move around in hot weather. They might also hide in the shade away from your camera.

Take note of  special events, like feedings and shows like flying bird demonstrations. You can catch some great shots if you plan around those events.

Step 3 – What to Bring

Lenses: It goes without saying that you should have a telephoto lens with you like a 70-200mm, 70-300mm or my favorite, the 80-400mm. If you can have one with image stabilization technology, that would be a nice bonus. You need a telephoto lens to get in really close and also to remove unwanted backgrounds. They also create nice, soft bokeh.

Most zoos will also have a creepy crawly enclosure with reptiles, spiders and butterflies. This is when a fast macro lens comes in handy. I say fast because some of those displays are in darker areas so being able to shoot at f2.8 is almost a necessity. An 80mm macro or a 105mm macro would be my lens of choice.

Make sure you keep your lens hood on your camera. Not only will it protect your lens from crowds or fences, it might also prevent sun flares. You don’t always have a choice of where you can shoot and you might have the sun as a backlight.

If you can, bring a tripod. A tripod is essential for those dark, indoor areas where long exposures are a must and/or flash is usually not permitted.

Consider bringing a flash. I personally don’t use a flash on most animals since I know it bothers them and in some cases might even harm them. But I will use it with butterflies or exotic flowers.

Don’t forget extra memory cards and an extra battery.

Step 4 – Think About Composition

It might not always be that easy to think about composition at a zoo but taking a few minutes to survey the animal’s surroundings can make the difference between the “tourist” shot and a great photo. For more detailed tips on composition, check out my complete Introduction to composition tutorial.

Context: observe the animal’s surroundings and see where would be the best spot to add the best “natural” habitat so that the animal looks like its in the wild.

Simplicity: get in as close as you can to eliminate background distractions.  Think in terms of taking a portrait of a human being. Look for their good side, facial expressions, the right light to flatter their features. Make sure you focus on the eyes.

Point of View: if you can, try getting at eye level with your subject. This will bring a sense of presence and intimacy with your subject. Try unusual and strange angles. You just never know what kind of masterpiece will come out of those shots.

Rule of Thirds: Try thinking of the rule of thirds. Now, don’t get obsessed by it. Just play around with it, experiment and have fun keeping your subject off center.

Step 5 – Those Dreaded Fences

Shooting through fences is most likely unavoidable. Here’s my recipe for great “through the fence” shots. The trick here is to get as close to the fence as possible to get the least amount of fence in the shot and to have it as far away from your subject relative to your lens. Use your telephoto lens and zoom all the way in. Set your aperture to its widest setting (smallest number) to get shallow depth of field. Aim and shoot. Repeat at will.

Step 6 – That Dreaded Glass

The great thing about glass is that you don’t have a fence to worry about. The bad thing about glass is that it reflects all light hitting it so you get glare. The trick here it to simply change you angle of view until most or all glare disappears. If you’re using flash, you’ll really have to be at an angle or else you’ll have the infamous white spot in the middle of your photo. If you brought and off camera flash like an SB-800 or a 550-EX, hold it in one hand at an angle.

Step 7 – Respect Zoo Rules

If you’re a law-abiding citizen you might brush this off and skip to the next step…. but don’t! Sometimes the evil beast that is the photographer in us will go to almost any length to get “the shot”.  So read on…

Don’t Distract the Animals: if those kids do it why shouldn’t I? Imagine if you were in a enclosed setting with 1000s of people walking by all day yelling at you to look this way and that way, yelling even louder when you don’t cooperate. Throwing things at you to get your attention. Not pleasant right? Please respect the animals. If you don’t have your shot yet, follow step #9.

Stay in Designated Areas: security is very important. Remember that those are wild animals and they do have unpredictable behaviors. Respect the boundaries set by the zoo. It’s for your safety and the animal’s safety.

Step 8 – Respect Other People

Ask for Permission: don’t take other people’s photos without their permission, even zoo employees (unless they’re doing a demonstration where cameras are permitted). Think like a non-editorial stock photographer.

Wait Your Turn: zoos can get crowded, especially on weekends. Don’t think that because you have a big camera with a big lens you have the right of way. Everyone paid the same price to get in and deserve your respect just like you deserve their respect. If you plan on following step#9 and be there a while, give your spot up for a few minutes.

Step 9 – Patience is a Virtue

Last but not least, patience. Most of the time you’ll have to practice patience to get the best shots. These aren’t models in your studio that you can just direct… “move a little more to the left”, “tilt your head to the right”, “give me sad puppy eyes”…. you have to wait for them. It’s a waiting game and if you’re patient you’ll get your photograph.

There you have it. I can guaranty you that if you follow these 9 steps, your zoo photography will become a wonderful experience. I’d love to see some of your best zoo photos! Post the links in the comments!

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Step 1 – Keep Yourself Dry

This one’s a no brainer right? You would think… but I saw photographers out in the pouring rain holding an umbrella in one hand and a DSRL camera in the other. It didn’t take long for the camera and lens to get wet. Not to mention shooting one-handed with a 70-200mm lens! A disaster just waiting to happen. Forget the umbrella unless your standing still and you clamp it somewhere to act as a shelter. You need both hands to shoot. Wear a raincoat and maybe even some rain boots if it’s pouring. Cold and wet feet don’t make for a happy photographer.

Step 2 – Get an All Weather Camera Bag

Before we look at what to do to keep your camera and lens dry while shooting, it’s important to keep it dry from point A to point B. My suggestion is to get a waterproof or “all weather” type camera bag like the Lowepro DryZone 200 or the bag I currently use, the Computrekker AW which has a protective outer shell that can easily be tucked away. The AW bag saved my gear when I got caught in a flash storm a few years back while in a canoe 1 hour away from camp. Never underestimate Mother Nature. What’s $200 to protect thousands of dollars worth of gear?

Step 3 – Keep Your Camera and Lens Dry

Off course we’re dealing with electronic equipment and it doesn’t mix well with water last I checked. There are many solutions that I’ll suggest so just use your best judgment depending on your personal situation.

1- Don’t go in the rain. What I mean by this is to stay under cover under a shelter. If it’s just drizzling, a tree can do the trick. I’ve seen people shooting from their car or even out their window.
2- Purchase a pro rain cover. B&H has a great variety ranging from $39.95 to $219.95 like the Tenba or the Aquatech.
3- Make your own DIY camera rain cover by using a ziplock or garbage bag and elastic bands for just a few pennies. Try making 2 holes on either side of the ziplock bag and pass the camera strap through it and reattach it to the camera.
4- Buy cheap rain pants and use one leg and elastic bands.
5- Attach an umbrella to your monopod using a superclamp so that where ever your camera goes, the umbrella follows.

Step 4 – Changing Lenses

If you need to change your lenses out in the rain, you absolutely need to keep the inside of your camera, and the lens element attaching to the camera, dry. My first suggestion would be to get out of the rain completely. If you can’t, cover your camera and lens as best you can and point the camera towards the ground while switching lenses.

Step 5 – Use Your Lens Hood

The lens hood has many uses. It not only used for lens flair. I have it on primarily to protect it from bumps and nicks. But it’s also good for keeping rain drop away from your lens. I my opinion, your should have your len hood on all the time, but if you don’t this is a great time to put it on.

Step 6 – Something to Dry Your Equipment

Even if you used the 5 previous steps mentioned above, you might still end up getting some water on your gear so it’s very important to have an absorbent cloth in your bag. I actually have a small piece of ShamWow with my all the time but you could bring a few folded up paper towels or a dish cloth.

Step 7 – Bring a Monopod or Tripod

Rainy days means clouds which means no sun, which means less light. Less light means you’ll probably have to shoot at slower shutter speeds.  A tripod or monopod will prevent you from taking blury images due to camera shake.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Check out these other great tutorials!

• The Adjustment Brush – Lightroom Video Tutorial
• Non Destructive Dodging & Burning – Photoshop Video Tutorial
• Photoshop Video Tutorial – Adding a Reflection

BTW: we mention putting the lens hoods on… we meant lens caps. We’re French Canadians, we’re aloud to make mistakes.

So, to sum it all up, here are Martin’s recommendations:

• Keep your lenses off you camera body, especially with a big pro body
• Get insurance for your photo equipment
• If you keep your lens on your body, make sure it’s leveled
• Keep your lenses and other fragile gear in the padded area of your backpack. Don’t put them in the top compartment.

I’d like to thank Martin for taking the time to share is mishap with us. You can check out his site at: www.martinpreeault.com (note that there is adult content on his site).

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Before I get into the details, I would like to mention that, because of the lack of zoom, prime lenses are usually sharper than zoom lenses. Yes, even prime lenses have their sweet spot but the differences are minuscule and can barely be seen by eye (for quality primes). I have 2 prime lenses, the Nikkor 50mm and the Sigma 105mm, and they’re pretty sharp throughout their complete aperture settings. That said, let’s get back to the sweet spot.

There is a general rule that can be applied to most, but not all lenses, when it comes to finding it’s sharpest aperture setting. Generally speaking, your lens’ sweet spot is 2 stops above its widest aperture. I won’t get into the whole f-stop theory here because I’ll bore you to death but it’s important to at least know your full f-stop settings on your lenses. Basically, each f-stop increments reduces the amount of light entering the camera by half which means the circle’s surface area is reduced by half.  Here’s a diagram to better explain it.

Ok, now that you understand basic f-stop increments let’s look at an example of the 2 stops theory. If your lens’ widest aperture is f 2.8, your sweet spot should be f 5.6. If your lens’ widest aperture is f 4, it’s sharpest aperture should be…. come on, you know it….. right! f 8. So this is easy, right? Tutorial done, right? You’re now a sweet spot expert, right? Well, not really. All rules are made to be broken.

Once you’re done with the theory, it’s time for the practice. There aren’t any shortcuts for this. If you really want to find each of your lenses’ sweet spots, you’ll have to shoot the same scene at various apertures. I recommend setting up your camera on a tripod in a bright environment and using a remote triger like the MC-30 or the RS-80N3 to prevent camera shake. Put your camera on aperture priority mode and start shooting each frame at 1 stop increments (your camera might be set to 1/2 or 1/3 stop increments). Then open them in Photoshop or another photo software and view the image at 100%. That’s how you’ll find your lens’ sweet spot.

Another option is to look at lens review sites.  DPReview has great lens reviews with interactive charts where you can scroll through different apertures and see the various sharpness. It’s so cool! If you know of other great lens review sites that test aperture sharpness, please share them in the comments.

To be completely honest and practical, my first suggestion is for you to buy good lenses right away. This way you won’t have to compromise your aperture for relative sharpness. Remember that you’ll change your camera body but your lenses will stay. I would rather compromise sharpness over aperture any day since aperture is a means to my creativity.  Not to mention all the available sharpening softwares out there like Photoshop and Lightroom.

Check out these other great tutorials!

• The Adjustment Brush – Lightroom Video Tutorial
• Non Destructive Dodging & Burning – Photoshop Video Tutorial
• Photoshop Video Tutorial – Adding a Reflection

What is BULB mode?

BULB mode (or BULB setting) is a shutter speed setting that gives you complete manual control of the duration of your shutter speed. Most often it’s used for shutter speeds of more than 30 seconds. Please refer to your instruction manual on how to set BULB mode. For most DSLRs, you first have to be in manual (M) mode to set BULB. Once in manual mode, dial down your shutter speed all the way to 30 seconds. After 30 seconds, dial it down once more and you’ll find BULB. Once you have it set, you’re ready to go!

In most cameras, BULB works by pressing and holding the shutter release until you’ve had the the desired shutter time (or when you finger gets tired!), then let go to close the shutter. You can image that if you want a 5 minute exposure, you’ll need to find another way.

Equipment

That’s where remote triggers come in very handy. I showed you a variety of trigger options in my Intro to Macro Photography tutorial but you don’t need fancy wireless options like the Canon LC-5 or the Nikon ML-3. I would suggest a wired option like the Nikon MC-30 or the Canon RS-80N3. Depending on the trigger you purchase, you’ll have the option of locking it so all you need to do is press, go have a double mocha latte mochino cream thing-a-ma-gig, come back and press again to close the shutter. If you don,t have that option, gaffer tape is a cheap alternative. Another advantage to remote triggers is that they prevent camera shake when pressing the shutter button.

Needless to say that another very important piece of equipment is a tripod. If you’re shooting outside and you’re leaving your camera unsupervised, I would suggest a heavier tripod or adding sand bags… just in case.

One of the downsides of shooting digital is battery life. Long exposures take lots of battery juice. Just one long exposure can drain a fully charged battery! No kidding. So if you’re planning on doing lots of BULB shots, you might consider investing in a vertical grip like the MB-D80 for Nikon D80 or D90 bodies or the BG-E2N for Canon 30D, 40D and 50D. What the vertical grip does it that it lets you put 2 batteries in it for double the juice.

When to use BULB mode?

The most obvious reason to use BULB mode is for exposures of more than 30 seconds like shooting night skies to get the star trails or dramatic moving clouds.

But it doesn’t always have to be for exposures of more than 30 seconds. It could just be for total control of when the shutter opens and closes. Great examples of this are shooting fireworks. The timing needs to be just right to get the best looking “bangs” and “poofs”.

I had the pleasure once to witness a lighting storm at the cottage one summer evening. Out came the tripod! I used BULB mode, off course. I would open the shutter and once the lightning would strike, I would close it.

Another time to use BULB mode is if you’re light painting. Open when you start, close when you’re done.

There are surely more ways to fully exploit BULB mode. Your only limit is your imagination! I invite you to share you ideas and link to your BULB photos in the comments.

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