Visiting zoos and taking pictures of exotic animals is one of the most common photographic pursuits. In fact, there are millions of zoo shots taken around the world annually. When I go to a zoo to shoot, I plan the day around a series of shots I want and I make sure that I have everything I need to get the job done. This means I carefully choose my gear to cover every photo opportunity. My goal in this article is to help you focus on the things you need to make the most of your trip to the zoo and help you get winning shots for the many contests that are run every year with a wild animal or ZOO theme to them. In fact, Tamron is running one for the summer of 2006 and you might want to take a look at their website and submit your best shots. My trip to the Columbus Zoo (Columbus, Ohio) was planned according to the weather and the animals I wanted to photograph. My choice of gear was pretty straight-forward. I picked a Tamron SP AF28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di lens, a Tamron AF70-300mm LD lens, a Pentax *ist DS camera body, Manfrotto tripod, polarized filters for both lenses, and a couple other filters (just in case, no pun intended). I typically plan to cover the zoo in a progression based on the layout and navigate to and fro depending on lighting and other environmental variables. On sunny days, I like to find shady areas for shooting and keep the sun at my back whenever possible. I use the polarized filters to cut through glare on dry grasses, water, and shooting through glass panes that are often between me and my intended subject. Pentax and Nikon digital SLRs have a x1.5 lens factor. That means a 70-300mm lens works like a 105-450mm lens (give or take a little). The older 70-300mm LD lens is a little soft at maximum zoom, so, I plan to grab the new Tamron 70-300mm Di lens, optimized for digital SLRs, as soon as it is available (at the time of this writing, it is a little behind the target shipping date). But, the LD version of the lens is still a good lens and I have had some great shots with it. Here are some samples (click them to see a larger image).

Please Visit Pentax SLR.com

In the pictures above, I used the Tamron AF70-300mm LD to get up close and personal with each of my subjects. A lot of people carry long lenses these days, but they don't know how to use them to get these results. Here's a simple trick. Zoom outward until your subject absolutely fills the camera's view-finder. Now, back off the zoom just slightly and take the shot. Make sure, before you shoot, that nothing distracting is in the picture. Look at every element in your composition. Do you have a cluttered background? Can you use a large aperture to create a shallow depth of field and blur the unwanted background clutter? Most of the time, you can with long lenses.

What happens when you are in low light conditions or you are close to your subject and there is a fence in the background or lots of other people walking around?

Ah, that's why I brought the SP AF28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di lens with me. This lens is fast in addition to being wide angle and it has superb optics that will give you clear shots up close when you need it. With that large aperture, you can blur out unwanted distractions very easily. Take a look at these samples:

The lorikeet is a beautiful bird from Australia. I wanted to capture its brilliant colors, but, there were too many people walking around and the aviary was not exactly the prettiest backdrop. I set the 28-75mm lens to 2.8 aperture and fired away while the bird was moving around. This pose was my favorite since it showed most of the body colors and most of the bird's body is in sharp focus.

I used this same lens on the leopard shots I took that day since there was a fence in the background and I wanted to blur the chainlinks as much as possible with the short lens needed to frame the shot well.

Sometimes there are conditions that prevent me from getting the shots I want. What do I do about it? Well, I plan to make another trip to the zoo and try again. Putting off a desired shot when timing is bad, lighting is harsh, or some other zoo patron is being a pain is something you'll have to endure to get a bunch of great zoo shots in your photo album. Just make the most of it and take along the right assortment of lenses and the odds will usually be in your favor.

This particular day, I was unable to photograph the lions. I have had that happen many times in the past, so, I am used to it. Rather than waste the shot on useless images, I can always think of it as an excuse to return to the zoo another day.

Don't forget your tripod. To get the highest percentage of crisp clear shots possible, you should mount any lens over 200mm on a tripod when you are focusing on distant targets. You might think it is inconvenient, but, people see me with my tripod and they actually give me more space. My shots are much sharper than most of the people that I meet shooting around me.

Oh, and leave your flash at home... you don't want glare on every window you are trying to shoot through and you don't need to be flashing the animals, it makes them skittish.

Happy Shooting.