Taking Great Zoo Pictures

A lot of the same rules apply at the zoo, as they do in life. I took this picture of the camel, and while it's cute, scroll down and see how much better the camel looks when I took a close up of it. Rule: Close ups are the best!

I took 13 pictures of the lions and from several different angles. Once I was home, I went through and found the one I liked best. Rule: take a lot of pictures! Here is the lion roaring....

and here is my daughter roaring right back! I stuck my camera over the railing to get the picture of my daughter's face. In the picture below, you can't even tell she is roaring, and there is too much "nothing" in the picture. Boring! Rule: point of view is very important!

We move on to my favorite creatures at the zoo, and also the cutest!

This picture was taken right after my little guy had woken up from a nap. He was so happy to see us! The only problem here is the flash on glass. I had to use the flash, because there wasn't enough light inside and because it is very hard to get a good shot of my little guy without flash since he moves almost constantly as he tries to keep his head up, which makes pictures of him blurry! Rule: Make sure your kids are well rested if you want a smile.

This picture is just because we were in the right place at the right time. Rule: Have that camera ready, because you just never know when that photo opportunity will occur at the zoo!

Ok, I just liked this guy's expression! Rule: If the animals are closer than normal, take advantage of it!

And here we have my camel picture that I love so much! This was also another perfect zoo picture day because it was slightly overcast, which makes for good pictures.

Other zoo rules:

Don't take pictures through the fence. If you can see fencing or netting in the picture, it isn't going to work.

Bring extra batteries! We all know why and some of us have had to learn from experience. But if your batteries do run out, you may be able to get at least one more shot by shutting your camera off for a bit and even removing the batteries and then putting them back in.

Don't use a flash when taking pictures through the glass.

Sometimes it's nice to take picture of your kids from behind, looking at the animals. I like to do this but point something out to my daughter that is off to the side and causes her to look that way. Then I get a side view of her face, and it's really cute.

The Pittsburgh zoo has footprints of some animals in the cement, (I particularly like the polar bear) which you can have your kids put their feet next to. This makes an adorable picture.

Scrapbooking zoo pages is fun. Please take pictures of your kids at the zoo, and not just the animals. Then, when you scrapbook, you can put several pictures of animals on a page with at least one picture of your kids.

I like to get a picture of my daughter with the "Kid's Kingdom" sign at the zoo. You can see her grow through the years.

Getting pictures at the monkey house is tricky for me. Usually, I just enjoy the stinky little beasts and give up the idea of taking pictures there. I did get a cute one of my daughter looking at the gibbon this last time. It looks like he is looking back at her and they are both resting their heads. It's funny. To take it, I focused on her and didn't stand too close.

I hope you enjoyed my pictures and maybe learned something, I don't know! Are there any places or events you would like to take pictures, and would like ideas or tips? I'll try to help! Just leave me a comment and let me know. I'll do my best to answer your questions in one of my future blogs.

Scrap Happy!