Photos tips for Wildlife Shooting (contd..)

Tip 1 (Get down to the animal height): When shooting, we are used to shooting from a certain height (typical shoulder height). When shooting an animal, you may find that there is a different perspective to be gained when you do down and dirty shooting, that is when you crouch down to the animal height and shoot from there. It may look odd if somebody is looking, but you may get some good photos.

Tip 2 (Shooting through bars in a zoo): Face it, if you are shooting in a zoo, there will be those iron bars that could spoil most photos. You need to either shoot a classical shot that portrays those bars along with the animal, but for most shots, you would rather not have the bars in the set. What you need to do is to make your depth of field as shallow as possible (selecting a very large aperture f/2.8 would help).

Tip 3 (Plan your hours): You are going to the zoo to shoot animals, and have dedicated a fair amount of time for the same. That is perfectly fine, but unless you have worked out where and how you are going to spend your time, it is not very effective. You need to find out when animals are likely to be more active, when do they get fed, as these vary from animal to animal and are times when some great shots can be had.

Tip 4 (Spending time at enclosures): If you are an impatient kind of person, then you will have lots of problems. Suppose you see a majestic tiger, and want to get some great shots of the animal, you need to wait over there in an active mode, with camera ready and you ready to shoot at a second's instance.

Tip 5 (Look for people shots): You are at the zoo, and are there to shoot wildlife; so far so good. But always keep a watchout for people and their reactions to seeing the animals. When an animal does something interesting, there is an instantaneous reaction that people have, and these make for interesting shots. Kids especially are very animated.