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Many times I was asked, if it isn't to boring for me to shoot Birds and other animals in a Zoo or respectivly an Animal-Farm. And my short answer is "No, it isn't", but you won't hear the short answer. Finally there are many arguments for Zoo-Photography. My heaviest argument is that I don't disturb an animal in his nature environment. The encreased common negative influence to the nature is enough. To specify: I mean a nature like my Neighbourhood just as a nature like the Antarctic or the Galapagos-Islands. So, before I take part of a great Expedition I prefer to go to a Zoo and try to make a good Photograph in there. (And naturally - It's cheaper :D )
The second great missunderstanding is the simplicity of making good photographs in Zoos. Most of the time the models are behind glass panes or fences and in front of bad backgrounds like concrete walls etc. It's a great challenge to get rid of them in your picture. A nice tool therefor is focal length! From 300mm, and more, I get the most satisfying results to eliminate the background and the fences. Additionally you should choose a wide aperture like 4.0 or 2.8 to get a small DOF. A side-face of the models are welcome to conceal the little DOF.
With this knowledge I went in a short holiday to Munich/Germany and tryed to shoot a Mandrill. A very nice, colourfull species that is not often seen in Zoos. In remembrance of an earlier visit I ment that the monkeys live in a great enclosure but in reality I saw a darkish, green-orange painted, tiled room with a fat glass pane in front. Wow! And therefor I drive across my country? Unfortunately the "Big Boss" of the group sits near the background and don't move. I'm waiting until two hours - and he doesn't move! My worst case so far I think.
Accordingly I choose the greatest focal length that I can, 420mm. First I used a aperture of F5.6 but because his diagonal position the DOF is not enough to get his complete head sharp. From this moment I love him because he's not moving :-) So I can change the aperture for a next try without ruffle. Finally I choose F8 and ISO50. With this settings I get the best possible quality and a DOF that exactly reach over his head. By using a solid tripod and the Image-Stabilizer the resulting exposure time of 1/8 seconds are within the bounds of possibility.
The only post-processing I made was, except the usual things like WB, Contrasts etc., to eliminate the splices form the tiles in the background. Finally it looks a bit like a painting i think.
My conclusion after this shooting was: It isn't boring and it isn't simple to get good pictures in a Zoo.
Thanks a lot if you read this article until the end, and I hope you enjoy it a bit.
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