TheGoofster
Old Foggie
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2006
We went back to the Mexico City zoo yesterday. We had a great time, but there are some observations I made. Things that I would either change or avoid in the future:
1) Make sure you're battery is fully charged before going (especially if you only have one battery). When we got there, I realized that my battery wouldn't last, so I shot most of my shots in manual focus mode, to make it last longer. Unfortunately the focus is just not as sharp in many of my pictures as it would have been in autofocus. Oh well, lesson learned.
2) Try to avoid going at midday, especially on a very bright sunny day. I found myself fighting with harsh overhead shadows most of the time we were there. Next time I will try to shoot for the earliest time possible - like being there when they open the doors. I did get a good chance though, to do some practicing with exposure compensations (typically either +1, or +2) some times it really worked well, and other times not so well.
3) Another reason to avoid going at midday is because so many of the animals were either MIA (probably hiding in their cages) or taking their daily siestas. Many of the animals I was hoping to shoot were either just not to be found, or they were on the other side of their areas, laying down with their backs towards us. I've heard many people say that the best time to go to the animal kingdom is in the morning. I imagine it's probably the same here.
4) It seems like this time of year is prime shedding time. I was amazed at how many of the critters were in various stages of fur and hair decomposition. A shedding animal doesn't exactly make the best looking subject.
5) If possible check with the zoo ahead of time to see if there are many scheduled field trips. We went on a Tuesday, hoping to avoid the large crowds you normally find on the weekends. What we found was many large groups of school kids (you know the yelling, running, bumping into you, standing in front of the shot you want to take) type of kids.
6) My son (who is almost 13), reminded me that it's not so cool for him to appear to be having that good of a time with his parents around. Even though he's a really good kid, and we have a great relationship, it's still just not cool to be seen hanging around with your parents. I'm pretty sure he had a good time in spite of his nonchalant demeanor. At least my 10 year old daughter still enjoys being around her old fogie parents in public
7) I shot the entire day with my 55-200 lens. There were a few times that I would have been better served changing my lens to the 18-55 to get some better close ups, but altogether I was pretty happy with the telephoto. I did wish that I had a stronger zoom lens (something around a 300mm or more) to get some of those critters who were as far away as possible. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to pick up a stronger telephoto lens, but for now the 200 does a pretty good job.
Amazingly, in spite of the battery, sun, time of day, kids and any other minor irritation that attempted to derail us, we still ended up having a great time (even my son, though I'm not sure he will admit it). Next time we go, I'll attempt to modify some of these things, but as long as the end result is the same (a good time had by all), then I'll be very happy.
Does anybody have any other zoo / animal park comments or recommendations that they would like to share?
1) Make sure you're battery is fully charged before going (especially if you only have one battery). When we got there, I realized that my battery wouldn't last, so I shot most of my shots in manual focus mode, to make it last longer. Unfortunately the focus is just not as sharp in many of my pictures as it would have been in autofocus. Oh well, lesson learned.
2) Try to avoid going at midday, especially on a very bright sunny day. I found myself fighting with harsh overhead shadows most of the time we were there. Next time I will try to shoot for the earliest time possible - like being there when they open the doors. I did get a good chance though, to do some practicing with exposure compensations (typically either +1, or +2) some times it really worked well, and other times not so well.
3) Another reason to avoid going at midday is because so many of the animals were either MIA (probably hiding in their cages) or taking their daily siestas. Many of the animals I was hoping to shoot were either just not to be found, or they were on the other side of their areas, laying down with their backs towards us. I've heard many people say that the best time to go to the animal kingdom is in the morning. I imagine it's probably the same here.
4) It seems like this time of year is prime shedding time. I was amazed at how many of the critters were in various stages of fur and hair decomposition. A shedding animal doesn't exactly make the best looking subject.
5) If possible check with the zoo ahead of time to see if there are many scheduled field trips. We went on a Tuesday, hoping to avoid the large crowds you normally find on the weekends. What we found was many large groups of school kids (you know the yelling, running, bumping into you, standing in front of the shot you want to take) type of kids.
6) My son (who is almost 13), reminded me that it's not so cool for him to appear to be having that good of a time with his parents around. Even though he's a really good kid, and we have a great relationship, it's still just not cool to be seen hanging around with your parents. I'm pretty sure he had a good time in spite of his nonchalant demeanor. At least my 10 year old daughter still enjoys being around her old fogie parents in public
7) I shot the entire day with my 55-200 lens. There were a few times that I would have been better served changing my lens to the 18-55 to get some better close ups, but altogether I was pretty happy with the telephoto. I did wish that I had a stronger zoom lens (something around a 300mm or more) to get some of those critters who were as far away as possible. Hopefully in the future I'll be able to pick up a stronger telephoto lens, but for now the 200 does a pretty good job.
Amazingly, in spite of the battery, sun, time of day, kids and any other minor irritation that attempted to derail us, we still ended up having a great time (even my son, though I'm not sure he will admit it). Next time we go, I'll attempt to modify some of these things, but as long as the end result is the same (a good time had by all), then I'll be very happy.
Does anybody have any other zoo / animal park comments or recommendations that they would like to share?
