For photographers

As you all know, I teach photography (mostly known for my studio lighting courses) and I find that in almost all of my classes, I have at least one person if not multiple people that tell me that they have problems scouting the scene, finding the right light, never have the opportunity to practice with depth of field or freezing mothing. they have challeneds of getting a subject to photograph and the list goes on and on. Well, I have told folks in my class that you don’t have to photograph a person in order to do most of those things. Well, I was inspired today to talk about a place where you can do all of those things.  Go to a ZOO or an AQUARIUM.  Why? Because you have subjects there that may or may not cooperate. If you are a kid photographer, you already know the patience required with subjects that do not always cooperate

Anyway, here are some examples that I took today at the Dallas Aquarium and the Dallas Zoo. I have some discussion around the photos. I encourage you all, as photographers to do something similar. There is a lot to learn in an environment like that.  Think about it, you can photograph a scene, you can photograph macro, you can photograph a portrait (of an animal), you have difficult lighting conditions…it’s AWESOME!  DO IT WITHOUT FLASH. DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO USE FLASH AND THEN YOU CAN REALLY SEE WHERE THE LIGHT POCKETS WERE AND HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE!

Disclaimer 1: I will not say that all of these photos are AWESOME but I do think they help make my points.  Disclaimer 2: the phots that I am using to show stuff are not edited so that I CAN show the stuff I am trying to show.

First, pockets of light. I think that aquariums are a great place to study light pockets because there is so much in the tanks with rocks and anemones and stuff that the light from the surface only hits some spots-right??  Also, fish move.  Great way to figure out how to freeze their motion with your shutter too.  First example: A Leafy Sea Dragon (I LOVE THESE).  The first photo is getting the excited and taking the first photo of the first one I saw. It is dark, it is in the shadows.. I can’t see it.  Then, I noticed that the lights at the top of the tank were beaming down at certain spots(it was a huge tank) So, I sat and I waited for one to swim under them and he became illuminated. Yes, I am sure I annoyed some people who wanted to get in there and there I was stuck to the glass. I LOVE sea dragons, they look so graceful under water!

Okay, this is a horrible photograph(due to all the crazy reflections on the glass) but it does show my point. I stood in front of this exhibit forever.  Getting a tamarind to stand exactly where you want it and to move its head the way you want it is CRAZY.  So, the exhibit itself was fairly dark but it had natural light and through the top, there was a beam of light hitting this branch and I stood there thinking that maybe the little guy would go there. Not only did he go there but he lifted his head and you can see the light hitting him and you can see the light falloff as well. I thought this was a good example The light haze that you see if actually reflections off the glass but it was pretty dark in there except for on that branch

DEPTH OF FIELD:  In a zoo environment, there are a lot of cages and with that I lot of chain link–yuck! No one wants that in a photo.  So, here are some examples of depth of field.  In the first photo, you can see the chain link fence behind the bird and in the other two…the background is very cool and very fuzzy. Remember, the more open your aperture, the less depth of field you have. Well, the second image looks more like I took it in the wild and you certainly cannot see the fencing material behind the bird.

Waiting for the right momen. Anticipating what your subject is going to do. Sometimes you can just observe what they are going to do (sometimes you are right and sometimes you are wrong). Sometimes, you can cause the reaction.  Sometimes, you just get lucky. Here are two photos.  With the tiger, I saw him hiding in the trees. I saw him take one step towards the pathway and then step back and then step towards and back.. I sat there (at the glass again-yes, likely blocking the view from others, there were other windows!) and I anticipated that at some point, he wanted to walk into that pathway and he did.  But I didn’t just want him in A pathway, I wanted him in THAT pathway..can you see the light swooping in from the left  and illuminating him?  With the turtle, well…I have been around giant turtles before and I knew that if I walked up to it it would likely open it’s mouth at me (out of fear or anger, yes..it has happened to me before) so I walked up to it in order to get his mouth to open and I snapped the shot.  

So… anyway, go to the zoo. it is unpredictable for lighting conditions and subject behavior. It is a great place to practice shutter speed and aperture settings-do it, you know you want to!! Oh, and here are some of my favorite shots of the day.

I love the macro of the scorpion fish. I took that with my Nikon 24-70 with my Kenko extension tube-through the glass.   I loved the turtle because I like the emotion of it, taken with my Nikon 24-70mm.  The cheetah, I liked as well because that photo was actually taken throug a chain link fence and it took a while for me to find the right hole in the fence to capture him without the chain link fence in the shot. I love the tiger shot because…I like tigers. I love some of them because I think they are pretty photographs and some because I have some type of emotional attachment to them.