So you’ve realized that a trip to your local zoo is a lot cheaper than an African safari.  And zoos have a lot more variety and you can get much closer to animals anyways.  How do you get good shots when you’re there?

1.  The most important piece of equipment is a long focal length lens.  Preferably 200-300 mm or greater.  Seriously.  You can be 5 feet from a bird, and use up all of those 200 mm to get a good portrait.  Having more focal length at your disposal is always better.  Even in a zoo, you may not be able to get that close to an animal. That woman next to you trying to take a photo with her camera phone is guaranteed to get a crappy shot.  You need to be able to fill the frame with your subject.  Nothing looks crappier than a photo with a tiny subject and a lot of bars/chicken wire in the background.  Photograph the animal to make it look like he’s in his natural habitat, not a zoo. As with most portraits, it is generally useful to have the subject in sharp focus, with the background very defocused. And when you're using such a long focal length lens, brace youself against anything you can to get a sharp shot.

2.  Focus on the eyes of the animal.  If the eyes are in perfect focus (like the example above), everything else can be out of focus, and the photo will still look ok. 

3.  If you’re going to be shooting through glass, consider using a polarizing filter, and this filter can remove many of the reflections.  And try to choose an angle where reflections are minimized.  And get as close to the glass as possible, and use a wide aperture to make any marks in the glass disappear. And for God's sake, turn that flash off.  

4.  Cages are difficult to shoot through.  Usually you will have an ugly bar or piece of wire in the way.  To deal with this, get as close to the offending object as possible, and use the widest aperture available.  The cage may become invisible, or the portion of the photo you really want may be betwween the bars. 

5.  A macro lens is also a handy addition to your bag.  Zoos usually have butterfly or bird enclosures, where you can get within INCHES if your subject.  Your giant telephoto that can only focus down to 5 feet is not much use.

6.  Fast lenses (those with large maximum apertures) are preferable, but not essential.  Some animals like to move a lot, so a fast lens can be an advantage, especially if they are in the shade.  I find that tripods help on some occasions, but for the most part, animals are moving, so tripods just aren’t that useful.     

7.  The biggest key is to BE PATIENT. Do not rush from one enclosure to another. The perfect pose may take hours to get.  I’ll never forget the winner of the Photography Magazine photo contest, where the photographer caught two lions nuzzling each other.  He spent over FOUR HOURS waiting for the perfect shot.  So chill out, stake out your spot, and choose a less crowded time.  It’s actually quite relaxing, sitting down and watching the animals move about, waiting for your perfect moment. 

8.  More on the perfect moment.  People like to see photos where animals display human attributes.  Be it love, compassion, disgust, humor, etc.  Try to capture these.  An animal picking its nose.  Birds kissing each other.

9. If you could pick anytime to be there, pick the morning. The morning light is great at creating bearutiful images.