Tips for Zoo Photography: How to Take Great Pictures of Animals

A telephoto lens is the first thing you will need. A 70-300mm zoom is ideal for APS-C cameras, as they have a focal length of approximately 450mm. Even for larger enclosures with animals further away, this should suffice.

It takes some practice to get longer focal lengths. This is why zoos and other outdoor settings are so great. A camera shake is also a possibility. To get the minimum shutter speed, you can use the Reciprocal rule. This is where the effective focal length is divided into ‘1″.

If you are shooting at a focal length of 250mm, the minimum shutter speed should be 1/250 seconds. Lens stabilization is available on many cameras lenses and many mirrorless bodies. It can reduce camera shake but not prevent subject movement. To capture moving animals, you will still require faster shutter speeds.

RAW files are better than JPGs. You may not always have the time to set up the right settings, so RAW files allow you to make adjustments later.

Use Aperture Priority

It might seem obvious that Shutter Priority mode would be the best way to achieve a fast shutter speed. Aperture Priority works better. You can automatically achieve the fastest shutter speed for your conditions if you use the largest lens aperture (f/5.6 for our 300mm optic).

Increase the ISO

A shutter speed of 1/250 seconds is sufficient for static subjects. However, a shutter speed greater than 1/500 sec, or 1/1000 sec, is best, especially if you are photographing an animal moving. You might have to increase your ISO setting to achieve these shutter speeds. ISO200 or ISO400 should suffice for f/5.6 on bright days.

Autofocus options

You may need to adjust your autofocus settings. The problem with standard Auto-area AF is that you don’t always know what the camera will focus on. You can instead try Single-point AF. Select AF-C (continuous), so the camera will keep refocusing on your subject as it moves. Next, choose the focus point you want.

Install a monopod

It can be difficult to keep your camera steady even at faster shutter speeds. Using longer lenses, a monopod can be a good investment. Even though the 300mm f/2.8 is huge, even a lightweight lens can feel heavy after a long day of shooting. The best monopods can take this weight and allow for more precise framing of long-range shots.

Hide fences

You can also buy cages for animals kept in captivity. If you get too close to the fence, it will blur into the background. Although you might lose some contrast, fixing this in an image editor is possible. You can also do this with glass. Just rest your lens on the surface.

Shooting indoors

The Cotswold Wildlife Park also has indoor exhibits and many other centres. Although the artificial light in the reptile house can cause problems with brightness, increasing the ISO to 1600 will keep the shutter speed at 1/30 second or higher, which is good for slow subjects. If you shoot in RAW, the white balance can be adjusted later.

Examine the exposure

It can be difficult to assess exposure indoors because the LCD is so bright that even photos with low exposure look great. Check the histogram after playing back the shot to ensure that the exposure is correct. If necessary, adjust the exposure and reshoot. Bright lights can cause the camera to underexpose.

Take a look at your shots.

After a tiring day of shooting, relax in a cafe and take a good look at your photos. Many software programs will allow you to save new RAW files as JPGs from your camera. This is your opportunity to play with the exposure and white balance settings for indoor and outdoor shots.