Practice in the Zoo

A safari in Africa is an incredible experience and a unique setting for wildlife photography. But better start practicing to shoot animals in a zoo before you buy a plane ticket! In the zoo you do not need to spend endless time waiting for the animals to show up. The animals are much easier to spot when they walk on green grass in the zoo compared to the brownish-grayish colors of the savanna. In addition, you can get much closer to the animals than you could (or would want to) in the African bush. You can try out different compositions and all the functions of your camera. A zoo is like a "sports field" where you can practice wildlife photography.

Meerkat

Still, it's not trivial to take good pictures in a zoo. Try to shoot from an angle so that you won't see any walls or fences. You will get the best results on a bright, sunny day - if the animal is in the sunshine and the background is in the shade. It helps to use a large aperture (low f-number) to blur the background. You can see the effect of these tricks in the meerkat photo - there are no distracting fences, bars of a cage, or people visible in the background.

Once you have mastered taking photos of animals in the zoo you can consider taking photos of wild animals. But keep in mind that there is a huge difference between taking a photo of an animal in the wild and one of an animal in a controlled environment. The challenges of getting good shots of truly wild animals are often overlooked! In most circumstances you will need a good tele lens to get a good pic of a wild animal. There are exceptions - in some national parks (e.g., Ethosha National Park, Namibia) you might get close enough to the animals to get a good shot with a standard lens.