Omaha Zoo – Cats

Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/200, f/5.6, ISO 1000, cropped and retouched

For the next few weeks The Photographer’s Sketchbook is going to consider the fine art of taking pictures of animals in zoos, using shots I took during a recent trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. Let’s start with the big cats, such as the fine specimen above.

Here we have a tiger in close to ideal circumstances for indoor zoo photography. Reasonably good light. No bars. And the subject appears at ease. The photo required a bit of cropping to eliminate some foreground clutter. And the image had an odd blue tint that fortunately came right out with a minor color level adjustment.

Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/20, f/5.6, ISO 1000, cropped

That isn’t to say that a bar-free indoor shot is always low hanging fruit. This puma was posing perfectly (she actually seemed to respond positively to being photographed), but the light in her enclosure was so shadowy that the low shutter speed required for the shot added some camera shake and marred the image.

At least it gave me an excuse to try the new shake reduction filter in Photoshop CC:

Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/20, f/5.6, ISO 1000, retouched

Still, it’s better to get the shot to start with rather than rely on editing to fix mistakes. I’ve tried the shake filter on some other photos with less impressive results.

Nikon D7000, 35mm (28-200), 1/60, f/4, ISO 400, cropped

Speaking of bars, they’re one of the biggest problems you’ll face photographing in zoos. Outdoor light couldn’t have been any better when we were there. But if the subject is close to her bars, the bars are going to end up in the shot.

Nikon D7000, 72mm (28-200), 1/320, f/5, ISO 200

Even the best pose won’t help an image that says “jail” way more than “magnificent creature.”

Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/160, f/5.6, ISO 400, cropped

On the other hand, if the subject is farther away from his bars, then you may be able to zoom in, focus tight on the subject and make the bars so blurry that they practically disappear. You can see a little fuzziness caused by the out-of-focus mesh of this jaguar’s cage, but for the most part they’re invisible.

Nikon D7000, 32mm (28-200), 1/200, f/7.1, ISO 1000, cropped

However big a pain those bars can be, they’re still a good idea. As I’m sure the kids in this photo would agree (especially the kid on the right).