LIONS & TIGERS & BEARS - OH MY.

LIONS & TIGERS & BEARS - OH MY. As everyone knows, wildlife photographers travel the world, spending months each year on safari in remote regions of the world in search of exotic animals. As an example, take the wildlife photos posted on my website, elkinsphotos.com. The photos of a swimming polar bear were taken during my 2006 expedition to the arctic. The photo of the baboon and the African lion I took while on safari in Kenya a couple years ago. The photo of the Indian elephant was taken just outside of New Delhi. The images of frigate birds and a blue footed booby on my Journey through Ecuador gallery page were taken on a recent photo excursion to South America. Well, the truth is that the photographs of the booby and the frigate birds were indeed taken on the Isla de la Plata, a small island off the Pacific coast of Ecuador. As to the rest of the wildlife photos mentioned, the all too mundane truth is, they were taken at a zoo. Most wildlife photographers are loath to admit that many of their most impressive images were made under controlled conditions (at zoos, wildlife parks, etc.). While there is a certain level of debate in the photographic community as to whether wildlife photography should be shot "in the wild", many of the most iconic wildlife images have been made under controlled conditions. It is a fact of life that little 7 year old Susie Periwinkel's snaphots taken at the local zoo won't be appearing in the upcoming issue of National Geographic Magazine. However, this does not mean that credible, even sensational, images of exotic wildlife cannot be made at that same local zoo. The trick is to take photographs that do not shout out to the viewer, "I was taken in a zoo." This is not easy to achieve. Shots of animals pacing back and forth on concrete floors behind bars are not going to make the viewer say, "Oh, wow!". A more likely response will be a bored "Ho hum.". One tip I'll give you is this. Make an initial scouting visit to the zoo. In preparation, visit the zoo's website. Pay attention to which animals' images appear on the website. Those are probably the exhibits you want to pay closest attention to during your scouting visit. Why? Because whoever photographed for the website probably found these exhibits the most interesting and - or photogenic. Take your camera just in case. However, your primary goal will be to scout out which exhibits present the best photo opportunities for your next visit. Forget the exhibits where there is no opportunity to isolate the animal from the zoo elements. Try to visualize how to use blurring of background elements, natural looking backgrounds, etc. to obtain photos which appear to have been made in the wild. Also, be aware that early morning, late afternoon and feeding times are good times to obtain photos. I would recommend lens ranges from moderate wide angle to telephoto (up to 400 mm equivalent). Tomorrow I will post a continuation of this posting covering more hints on obtaining quality wildlife photos under controlled conditions.