Day at the Zoo

And now for something different. This spring I spent the day at the San Diego Zoo learning some camera techniques that helped with photographing animals. Particularly, I learned how to use Automatic ISO with a minimum shutter speed. I wanted to keep my shutter speed high enough to capture moving subjects, sometimes in low light or shadows. I was using a 100-400 lens so I chose a minimum shutter speed of 1/400 sec. Enough with the technical. Here are some photos.

My favorites from the day were these shots of the Sleepy Flamingo and another with just its feathers.

The photo below was taken earlier in the day, when the light harsher. I often like to find dark backgrounds to make the subject stand out as with the two photos below.

I spend the bulk of the day with various apes. It was especially moving to watch one woman converse through the glass with one of the gorillas. She was a regular visitor to the zoo and knew this particular gorilla over several years. She was showing it a photo of another gorilla and talking to it through the glass. The gorilla was intent with eyes on this woman and her photo. I didn’t get of photo of her, but here are some others.

To see more from this outing, click here.