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#1
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Taking photos at a zoo
We'll be taking our daughter to the zoo (in Albuquerque). I want to
take photos of the animals, but also want to include her in at least some of the photos. It won't help that the sun will be blazing. So, what are some good rules to follow? Any tips would be graetly appreciated. Will a flash help? Thanks, Pinaki. Equipment: Pentax *istDL, 18-55 zoom and 50/1.7 Photography skills: sucks :-( |
#2
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Taking photos at a zoo
On Jun 14, 12:31 pm, Pinaki wrote:
We'll be taking our daughter to the zoo (in Albuquerque). I want to take photos of the animals, but also want to include her in at least some of the photos. It won't help that the sun will be blazing. So, what are some good rules to follow? Any tips would be graetly appreciated. Will a flash help? Thanks, Pinaki. Equipment: Pentax *istDL, 18-55 zoom and 50/1.7 Photography skills: sucks :-( Put the camera on auto and let the force take you. Sorry about the StarWars theme there. Some of the best time to shoot the animals is early morning or early evening. At these times they are more active and will produce better images. Having the camera on auto with the flash will allow you to capture your daughter in front of the animal habitat. Have the sun behind you or directly behind the cage. Set the camera for portrait mode and shoot away. Or set it to lanscape mode for greater DOF. Or just leave it on Program with the flash turned to always on and let the camera judge the proper exposure. Until you have learned more of what you can and can not do with your camera, this is what I have to offer you. Keep shooting. Keep track, when you can, of what the settings are on the camera. Keep shooting. Take a lesson from your community college. Keep shooting. Good luck and keep shooting. Draco Getting even isn't good enough. Doing better does. |
#3
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Taking photos at a zoo
As for time of day, early and late are best for color saturation -
midday shots can look bland. As for the sun - doubt you'll be able to pick and choose the position of the shot since the cages\pens are fixed - but try to have it 90 degrees off to either side. Directly behind will be good if you can shoot at dusk or dawn. If it's behind your daughter and the composition, better make sure you meter right - best to bracket for those shots and use a lens hood if the shot is backlit. Flash - ahhhh, not sure - for each composition take one with the flash and one without. Also, will the zoo let you shoot flash - it may spook the critters so it may not be allowed. Shutter\Aperture\Shooting mode - do not set to portrait mode or have a large aperture or what you will get is your daughter in focus and the animals and surroundings blurry - shoot with a as small an aperture as possible for a hand held shot (assuming you can't bring a tripod) or shoot in landscape mode. Not sure how experienced you are - if not very - landscape mode. If kind of - aperture priority mode and adjust the aperture until you have a shutter speed high enough to hand hold the shot. Rules - DO NOT CENTER your daughter in the composition - set off to one side. Don't feel you have to have her facing the camera - get some candids of her looking at the animals - from the side - you don't need the whole face - 3 quarters of the face is often very good - like one of ner resting her arms on a railing and her head on her arms - that kind of stuff. Once again - small aperture for max depth of field. If animals are on the move - pan with them then shoot. |
#4
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Taking photos at a zoo
Pinaki wrote:
We'll be taking our daughter to the zoo (in Albuquerque). I want to take photos of the animals, but also want to include her in at least some of the photos. It won't help that the sun will be blazing. So, what are some good rules to follow? Any tips would be graetly appreciated. Will a flash help? Thanks, Pinaki. Equipment: Pentax *istDL, 18-55 zoom and 50/1.7 Photography skills: sucks :-( Flash will help, depending on what flash you have. You'll want some sort of fill in back-lit situations, and back-lit is good to get rid of squinty eyes. With the on-camera flash you'll have to remember to remove the lens shade, because it can cause an arc of shadow at the bottom of the image. IF you have an external TTL flash (like a Vivitar 285HV) to fit the shoe, set the ISO to twice the camera ISO and you'll get 1 stop less flash than ambient. If you have the Pentax flash designed for their DSLRs (360FGZ or 540FGZ), you should be able to set it for -1 stop fill. |
#5
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Taking photos at a zoo
On Jun 14, 12:31 pm, Pinaki wrote:
We'll be taking our daughter to the zoo (in Albuquerque). Glad you found her a good home. |
#6
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Taking photos at a zoo
On Jun 15, 6:21 am, Cisco Kid wrote:
As for time of day, early and late are best for color saturation - midday shots can look bland. As for the sun - doubt you'll be able to pick and choose the position of the shot since the cages\pens are fixed - but try to have it 90 degrees off to either side. Directly behind will be good if you can shoot at dusk or dawn. If it's behind your daughter and the composition, better make sure you meter right - best to bracket for those shots and use a lens hood if the shot is backlit. Flash - ahhhh, not sure - for each composition take one with the flash and one without. Also, will the zoo let you shoot flash - it may spook the critters so it may not be allowed. Shutter\Aperture\Shooting mode - do not set to portrait mode or have a large aperture or what you will get is your daughter in focus and the animals and surroundings blurry - shoot with a as small an aperture as possible for a hand held shot (assuming you can't bring a tripod) or shoot in landscape mode. Not sure how experienced you are - if not very - landscape mode. If kind of - aperture priority mode and adjust the aperture until you have a shutter speed high enough to hand hold the shot. Rules - DO NOT CENTER your daughter in the composition - set off to one side. Don't feel you have to have her facing the camera - get some candids of her looking at the animals - from the side - you don't need the whole face - 3 quarters of the face is often very good - like one of ner resting her arms on a railing and her head on her arms - that kind of stuff. Once again - small aperture for max depth of field. If animals are on the move - pan with them then shoot. Thanks a lot to all of you for great suggestions. As you may have guessed, I'll have to deal with harsh sunlight - the zoo timings are 10:00 to 5:00. I'll try to remember to use the flash if the sun is directly behind the subject. I don't have an external flash, so it will be the pop-up one. I do realize that it only works to a few feet. And yes, I won't center my daughter -- that's for another zoo (aka home). As you mentioned, it will be the animals with her looking on in some of the shots. I won't even try to pan. That's way too advanced for me. I'll try to post some photos once we get back. Thanks a lot, Pinaki. |
#7
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Taking photos at a zoo
On Jun 17, 9:54 am, Annika1980 wrote:
On Jun 14, 12:31 pm, Pinaki wrote: We'll be taking our daughter to the zoo (in Albuquerque). Glad you found her a good home. LOL! Well, that's a very tempting thought. But we don't want to be that hard on the critters. |
#8
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Taking photos at a zoo
"Pinaki" wrote
I'll have to deal with harsh sunlight - the zoo timings are 10:00 to 5:00. Then shoot 10 - 11am and 4 - 5pm. The sun will be higher [and the sun is at it's highest for the year right now] in the morning hour, but the day will be cooler/fresher. Some scenes will better lit in the morning, some in the evening, so go both times. Take a siesta in between. That's one of the nice things about going out on a shoot: enforced siesta. If you are stuck with harsh sunlight try and place the sun (er, pick a subject where the sun is) off to the side at 45-60 degrees where 0 degrees is straight in front of the subject. Now walk around the subject for the best view. If the subject is next to a white wall or pavement it will help fill in the shadows. Don't be afraid to include the sun in the picture but don't let the camera meter the sun. Take a polarizing filter. -- Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters http://www.darkroomautomation.com/index.htm n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com |
#9
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Taking photos at a zoo
On Jun 18, 1:05 pm, Pinaki wrote:
We'll be taking our daughter to the zoo (in Albuquerque). Glad you found her a good home. LOL! Well, that's a very tempting thought. But we don't want to be that hard on the critters. My grandfather used to take me to the Cincinnati Zoo. He told me I needed two tickets .... one to get in and one to get out. |
#10
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Taking photos at a zoo
On Jun 18, 4:32 pm, Rita Ä Berkowitz ritaberk2O04 @aol.com wrote:
Pinaki wrote: Thanks a lot to all of you for great suggestions. As you may have guessed, I'll have to deal with harsh sunlight - the zoo timings are 10:00 to 5:00. I'll try to remember to use the flash if the sun is directly behind the subject. I don't have an external flash, so it will be the pop-up one. I do realize that it only works to a few feet. And yes, I won't center my daughter -- that's for another zoo (aka home). As you mentioned, it will be the animals with her looking on in some of the shots. I won't even try to pan. That's way too advanced for me. I'll try to post some photos once we get back. I find it best to take a crappy lens like the Nikon 18-200mm VR and talk to this guy for getting positioned for the best shots during harsh conditions. Even with a light-attenuating lens like the 18-200mm VR you don't need to use fill flash when you have Cart Blanc to the best shooting spots. http://www.geocities.com/ritaberk2007/hard_to_get.htm Rita Wait a minute. How did you get *in* the cage? Pinaki. |
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