Zoo Animals

[Overread]

One thing about a lot of zoo animals ... because of the enclosure, most of them move in repetitive paths. Watch them for a while, then you can position yourself in a good target area.

Because they are bored ****less

Aye sad but true - It's also one reason that I tend to prefer some smaller establishments. Sadly many zoos are built upon the Victorian idea of a zoo and are located in terrible urban or near urban areas which present very little expansion space; and have pens and enclosures that are sadly far from suitable in size for their content. Whilst this has changed over the years it still doesn't relocate the zoos themselves to better locations.

Plus one can see subtle things too in how pens are arranged; many zoos typically offer little to no shelter or hidden spaces; the pen is on show and the job of the zoo is indeed to market and show their animals. In contrast many wildlife centres often have much more foliage and hidden spots and the focus from the ground up is different.

ps this is not to say that zoos do not try and that attitudes have not changed; more to reflect on the fact that many are simply victims of their past and as an entity probably find it difficult to impossible to make wholesale changes whilst remaining financially viable.

 

[Buckster]

That is not wildlife, they are captive

wildlife: noun; all living things (except people) that are undomesticated.

Climb into the lion's enclosure and let us know after they pull out what's left of your partially eaten carcass if you think they're wildlife or domesticated.

Try entering a zoo shot in a wildlife competition

What, you mean like this one?

National Wildlife Photo Contest Rules and Information - National Wildlife Federation

Where it specifically states in the rules:

Captive animals photographed in major zoos, wildlife research facilities or rehabilitation centers are acceptable.

 

[Overread]

Climb into the lion's enclosure and let us know after they pull out what's left of your partially eaten carcass if you think they're wildlife or domesticated.

Try entering a zoo shot in a wildlife competition

What, you mean like this one?

National Wildlife Photo Contest Rules and Information - National Wildlife Federation

Where it specifically states in the rules:

Captive animals photographed in major zoos, wildlife research facilities or rehabilitation centers are acceptable.

That actually surprises me! Although I guess it does make for more entries and an reduced amount of work for the organisers in removing captive shots from the competition. That said many major Wildlife Competitions and indeed smaller ones do make the specific call that subjects should be non-captive.

 

[Buckster]

Try entering a zoo shot in a wildlife competition

What, you mean like this one?

National Wildlife Photo Contest Rules and Information - National Wildlife Federation

Where it specifically states in the rules:

Captive animals photographed in major zoos, wildlife research facilities or rehabilitation centers are acceptable.

That actually surprises me! Although I guess it does make for more entries and an reduced amount of work for the organisers in removing captive shots from the competition. That said many major Wildlife Competitions and indeed smaller ones do make the specific call that subjects should be non-captive.

And yet, it was the very first one when I Googled: "wildlife photo competition".

I'd like to know how anyone can know for sure if a shot was made in a zoo or the wild, if there's nothing in the photo to establish it as a zoo shot anyway.

I could even replace the GPS coordinates in the EXIF to "place" the shot anywhere in the world, and at any time of the day, any day of the year, if I wanted to get really tricky, matching up the shot to a specific place in "the wild", plus a day and time where the weather matches, for instance. Or just shoot it with film, for that matter - no EXIF to even have to change.

I have too much integrity to do that, and don't care a whit about such contests anyway. But I'm just saying - how difficult would it really be to fool the judges if one really wanted to? This goes back to the OP's comment about "some might think it's cheating" (paraphrased, so I don't have to go back and quote).

 

[Overread]

A lot of competitions do rely upon the integrity of the photographers to not cheat. That said there are ways to detect it; first up many animals have a very specific "look" to them and any animal at most wildlife centres is going to be photographed by many people. As such the community itself can "identify" from looks a specific animal; and indeed from there the background elements can also be brought into account.

Going further there are also ways that have been developed which allow identification of an animal based upon scientific study of their facial structure from photos. As humans we can tell people apart pretty well but animals are a bit more tricky; however with study the signs are there. I can't go into detail as I honestly don't know the details well enough and they vary from animal to animal; that said they were methods both used to identify this cheat:
Wildlife photographer of the year stripped of his award | Environment | The Guardian

 

[Buckster]

A lot of competitions do rely upon the integrity of the photographers to not cheat. That said there are ways to detect it; first up many animals have a very specific "look" to them and any animal at most wildlife centres is going to be photographed by many people. As such the community itself can "identify" from looks a specific animal; and indeed from there the background elements can also be brought into account.

Going further there are also ways that have been developed which allow identification of an animal based upon scientific study of their facial structure from photos. As humans we can tell people apart pretty well but animals are a bit more tricky; however with study the signs are there. I can't go into detail as I honestly don't know the details well enough and they vary from animal to animal; that said they were methods both used to identify this cheat:
Wildlife photographer of the year stripped of his award | Environment | The Guardian

VERY interesting!! Learn something new every day!!

 

[bmurray82]

In my wildlife experience and I go in a lot of swamps keep these "animal" tips in mind when shooting even if its in the zoo.


Make sure, if you can get eye level shoot at eye level and have both eyes in focus.

Know your subject. Walking, thinking, etc. not every animal is the same.

Also never shoot on manual when shooting wildlife because its way to unpredictable of a type of photography when starting out. Unless you know that it's a type of animal that doesn't move very often and you can set your exposure.

If its birds I shoot on speed value canon is timing value.

Aperture value is great for everything else

Manual is very powerful so don't rely on half auto modes. Aka aperture or timing modes. They won't beat manual mode.


Also go in with a set plan on what your looking to capture and have fun!!

Also personnel request for you look up moose peterson, you will know why when you do ;-)

Happy shooting!

 

[SCraig]

.... For glass, I would bring a good walk around, like a 28-300. a prime, like a 35mm 2.8 or 50mm 1.8/1.4 for the low light rooms where they typically keep invertebrates. I lugged around a 135-400 a few times and honestly, at least at the National Zoo in DC, didn't need it. I guess your mileage may very depending on what zoo you are going to, but for the most part, a lot of zoos aren't sprawling savannas.....

I'm fortunate in that the Nashville Zoo is less than 2 miles from me, and I keep an annual membership. I've been so many times I know what's there and how close I can get to everything. The majority of the time I use my 70-300 but there are times when I take my 150-500, and I have used that with a 1.4 teleconverter. If I'm going to shoot the indoor critters I use a 17-70 Sigma with an SB-700 speedlight on an off-camera cord so I can move the flash around.

When I go to a zoo I'm not familiar with I normally take my 150-500 but leave it in the car until I see if I'm going to need it. The majority of the time my 70-300 is enough, and sometimes I'll stick my 1.4x TC in my pocket for insurance. If I need more I go get my 150-500 out of the car.

 

[bmurray82]

From my local zoo, something simple

 

[DragonHeart]

Zoo_003 by DragonHeart305, on Flickr

Gibbons_re-edit by DragonHeart305, on Flickr

South Dade Photo Meetup by DragonHeart305, on Flickr

I dunno, I can't tell if these pics were taken in the Zoo or the 'Wild'?