At the zoo

snapapple

These are a few shots from the San Diego Zoo. I went for just 45 minutes on Friday afternoon. I wanted to find some babies for the "New" challenge, but it was not to be.
I've seen some great shots of zoo animals in this forum. Tell me please, do they not put the animals in cages at your zoo? Our tiger is not in a cage, but they gave him such a large area (behind some solid and some glass walls) that you can never see him. He sleeps way up on a hill under a tree in the shade. You can't see that from the viewing window.

The monkeys are behind wire, this is quite a distance from the rail that keeps the people back, so you can't get up close enough to the wire to blur it out.

The baboons go way down in the shade where there is no light in addition to the wire. It's so frustrating.

Anyway, these are the best of the monkey shots.

#1



#2


#3


#4


#5


And the last one.... This is the shot I dream of getting.
It's a picture of a poster (animals at the Wild Animal Park). I just had to share it.

vandana

I had the same problem recently on a visit to the zoo. It was after a very long time and I got the feeling they don't really like us !
If you can spend more time, maybe just wait it out and the big cat will grace you with her presence I like your #4, 5 the best especially #4 - very nice colors..and nice expression on his eyes ! #3 - I'm not sure - the wires are blurred, but not ignorable - they just distract more, I think.

you check see some of my recent zoo pics at
http://vandana.smugmug.com/gallery/1087172

thanks for sharing !

GREAPER

Ya really got me on the last one. I was really going until I read the caption.:D

Zoos are tricky, and generally not photo friendly. All of the things that keep the animals from eating us also make them hard to photograph.

Part of the trick is frequent visits. In most of your shots where the fence shows, it looks to me like the problem is that the animal is too close to the fence. Even though your DOF is shallow, it is still allowing the fence to show.

If you have a set of extension tubes, try putting one on. They are not just for macro.

They will reduce your DOF and help eliminate the fence.

bfjr

Yup Zoos are tough to shot in to say the least. I hear good things about the Wild Animal Park. Have you tried there?

snapapple

vandana wrote:

I had the same problem recently on a visit to the zoo. It was after a very long time and I got the feeling they don't really like us !
If you can spend more time, maybe just wait it out and the big cat will grace you with her presence I like your #4, 5 the best especially #4 - very nice colors..and nice expression on his eyes ! #3 - I'm not sure - the wires are blurred, but not ignorable - they just distract more, I think.

you check see some of my recent zoo pics at
http://vandana.smugmug.com/gallery/1087172

thanks for sharing !

Thanks for looking, Vandana.
You're right the zoo people are definitely trying to discourage photographers.
I looked at your gallery. Very nice shots. I did not see a lot of cages there. Your lion shots are great.
I like #4 as well. I tried to focus on the eyes in all of them. Thanks for the helpful comments.

snapapple

GREAPER wrote:

Ya really got me on the last one. I was really going until I read the caption.:D

Zoos are tricky, and generally not photo friendly. All of the things that keep the animals from eating us also make them hard to photograph.

Part of the trick is frequent visits. In most of your shots where the fence shows, it looks to me like the problem is that the animal is too close to the fence. Even though your DOF is shallow, it is still allowing the fence to show.

If you have a set of extension tubes, try putting one on. They are not just for macro.

They will reduce your DOF and help eliminate the fence.

Thanks for the helpful hints, Greaper. I don't have extension tubes, but I'll look into it.

The monkey enclosure is brand new. I could not believe how close they made that fencing. The monkeys can't help but be right up close to it. And, the people are kept way back behind another barrier. When you zoom in on the monkey, you get the wire. I don't think they even thought about us photographers at all, or else they did it deliberately to discourage us.

Thanks again for the help.

snapapple

bfjr wrote:

Yup Zoos are tough to shot in to say the least. I hear good things about the Wild Animal Park. Have you tried there?

I have a membership to the zoo and the Wild Animal Park. The few times I've been to the Wild Animal Park I hardly saw any animals. They are hard to spot way out in their natural habitats. I have not taken the train ride, however. That's supposed to be a good way to get up close. It's quite a ways from where I live. About an hour drive or more. I really should try to get out there again. Winter is less crowded. This is the time.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

Rohirrim

Nice series. Not much you can do sometimes about the wires. Looks like you made the best of it.

ginger_55

Snappy, I have never seriously shot a zoo. I haven't even been in one since I have gone digital.

Like you I see some very natural shots on here. Some of it might be the time of day, lighting or something, I am just making guesses. Almost anyplace it helps to go all the time to be there at the right moment.

And that can be an effort. The closest good zoo, to me, is two hours away, and with your experience I don't see making a point to get up there. My younger daughter and her family, kids included, they are moving to that city this summer. I will get up there and go to the zoo then, I am sure. Sara just loves zoos. I am not that fond of them.

I do like some of your monkeys. They are sociable creatures though, they would be as close to the people as they could get, I would think. Maybe feeding time would keep them occupied. It must be in the zoo layout and the timing.???

I am as lost as you are, smile.

ginger