Zoo Environment Great For Close Up Animal Head-Shots.
By Winston D. Munnings
18 May 2008
If you're not a Photographer, this little humor may not make any sense whatsoever, but give it a try anyway...look for the TIP!
Two men were sharing photographs one day each bragging about whose images were better and who had the better equipment etc., The more seasoned of the two (with about ten years experience in photography) pulled a picture from his portfolio. It was an award winning headshot of a tiger taken with a 500 mm Lens.
"What do you think of this" he asked his inexperienced friend who had been shooting for less than a year.
"That's nothing", the young inexperienced friend replied. "You should see my Lion shot" he remarked, and proceeded to show his older friend a picture of his famous Lion shot.
Giggling, the older guy asked: "And what Lens did you use?"
"An 80 mm Lens, and a damn good one at that too" the young man snapped. (Tip: An 80 mm lens is perfect for taking portrait of human beings 6 - 8 feet away.)
By this time, the older guy was literally lying on the ground laughing his head off as tears streamed from both eyes. "What's so funny?" the younger man angrily inquired?
"Now I understand why you have no ass, and hop around like a Giselle" he remarked, barely trying to keep himself from popping yet another neck vein.
Bottom-line? You're dead meat if you're foolish enough to get that close to a Lion or a Tiger using a portrait-sized people Lens.
Shooting animal headshots at your neighborhood Zoo is a no brainer. Firstly and, unlike shooting in the wild, its 100% safe and you can easily get away using a medium-range telephoto Lens.
Ideally, Lens with a range of 300 mm - 500 mm would be perfect but (depending on the animal subject) you can get away using a shorter Lens range. In fact about 70% of the images in this Essay where shot with my trusty old 70 - 210 mm Nikkor Lens ...at the longer end, of course.
If you can afford the more expensive glass, go for it. For animal portrait shots such as these on this page, I would usually pack my 300 mm F/4, but there are some limitations as far as composition is concerned.
One thing is certain, however: Don't even think of getting up close to a Tiger or Lion or any of the other BIG Cats with an 80 mm Lens if you want to continue to have a rear-end, or to walk upright as most Homo Sapiens do.
