Howlers wildlife park

The_kid1433

The_kid1433

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Name
Paul
Edit My Images
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Hi all, went to a wildlife park and took the camera with me and was hoping some of you could give me some tips on improving my pictures
Firstly I really enjoyed the day but all the photos here have been seriously cropped in due to not being able to get close enough to the animals. The camera I'm using now has a 20-50mm kit lens however an hoping to get a new one with an 18-55 and 55 - 200so hopefully that should help.

Some things I would criticise the pics for such as seeing the cage I can't think of anything I could do about but things such as the baboon and tiger seem to be really dark features of the animals

The tiger had a lot of photoshop.

Anyway any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks,

The kid


Baby2 by paul garvie, on Flickr

howlets 6 by paul garvie, on Flickr

howlets 27 pos by paul garvie, on Flickr

howlets 33 pos by paul garvie, on Flickr

howlets 35 by paul garvie, on Flickr
 
Hi Paul, the art of shooting captive animals is getting them to look like they are in the wild.... And you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned your lens. Ideally you need a minimum of a 70-200 f2.8 at places like this, as the fast aperture almost dissolves the wire fences if you get right up to it, and you need separation between the fence and the subject.

The following were shot at whipsnade and Bristol zoos, and you'll see what I mean.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevejelly/albums/72157651898794479

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevejelly/albums/72157624783283193

It takes practice, but my lad recently shot some stuff at Bristol zoo and he was using his X-T1 and a 17-55 kit lens, so it can be done, you just need to pick your moments.

The tiger is a pretty good effort, you just needed to wait for him to turn towards you a little more so you could catch the detail in his eye.
 
Pretty much what Jelster says, but the Mangabeys were too close to the fence for it to 'dissolve.' Cobra posted a link to his guide on a recent zoo post, so have a look through that ... I'm sure he'll post it again for you :)
 
The_kid1433 said:
Port lympne near Folkestone. Seems like its got the same sort of animals there so can try to improve.
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I think you'll struggle as their fences are generally the same as Howletts and your lenses may be too short for the larger enclosures that do have glass/unobstructed viewing areas. Going back to Jelster's examples, I don't think any of those photos will have been taken through wire fences and certainly not like the dark shaded set ups you'll find at Port Lympne.
 
nickEnackEnoo said:
I think you'll struggle as their fences are generally the same as Howletts and your lenses may be too short for the larger enclosures that do have glass/unobstructed viewing areas. Going back to Jelster's examples, I don't think any of those photos will have been taken through wire fences and certainly not like the dark shaded set ups you'll find at Port Lympne.
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Cheetah's definitely were taken through the wire, as was the Lemur at Bristol.

Paul, I'll think you'll struggle with the lens that you have. Last November I hired a 100-400 from Lenses For Hire for a trip to Scotland. (see https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevejelly/albums/72157665115077959) That made me decide that I had to have one, however, the Fuji refurb store have the XC50-230mm for just £189 at the moment. I ordered one for my lad for his Birthday - For that money I don't think you'll get better focal length for your money with a Fuji....
 
Jelster said:
Hi Paul, the art of shooting captive animals is getting them to look like they are in the wild.... And you hit the nail on the head when you mentioned your lens. Ideally you need a minimum of a 70-200 f2.8 at places like this, as the fast aperture almost dissolves the wire fences if you get right up to it, and you need separation between the fence and the subject.

The following were shot at whipsnade and Bristol zoos, and you'll see what I mean.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevejelly/albums/72157651898794479

https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevejelly/albums/72157624783283193

It takes practice, but my lad recently shot some stuff at Bristol zoo and he was using his X-T1 and a 17-55 kit lens, so it can be done, you just need to pick your moments.

The tiger is a pretty good effort, you just needed to wait for him to turn towards you a little more so you could catch the detail in his eye.
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TBH, 70-200mm is probably too short still at Port Lympne even on crop, but would as you say help to 'remove' the fencing. I took the 150-600mm (on FF) and still had to crop. Neither Howletts or Port Lympne are ideal for photography imo, although I did the photography day at Howletts so got really good access and right up to the fence meaning it was easy to blur out.
 
Cheers for all the replies, port lympne was properly a better wildlife park than howletts but like you said harder to get good photos with that lens. just got myself a new camera ordered with a 55 a 200mm lens on top of the kit lenses that the missus is going to give to me late on in the month so hopefully go back after that and try to shoot some more
 
The_kid1433 said:
Cheers for all the replies, port lympne was properly a better wildlife park than howletts but like you said harder to get good photos with that lens. just got myself a new camera ordered with a 55 a 200mm lens on top of the kit lenses that the missus is going to give to me late on in the month so hopefully go back after that and try to shoot some more
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Strange isn't it as I though Howketts was better ;)

What camera have you treated yourself to?
 
The_kid1433 said:
A Nikon d5300. Not the fanciest of cameras but I think it should be good and a longer lens I think will make all the diference.
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Still a very nice camera (y)
 
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