How to take great pictures of big cats at the zoo

I’m the kind of person who goes on a vacation to any place based on how good the local zoo is. Some of my favorite zoos are the Singapore Zoo, the Bali Zoo and the San Diego Zoo. Every decent zoo has an exhibit of a few of the big cats (tigers, lions, leopards). These are usually my favorite animals to photograph at the zoo as they are often very difficult to capture in the wild. You also don’t have the same freedom while shooting in the wild as you do in the zoo. Here is a guide to getting great pictures of these majestic creatures at the zoo.

The light

As is with every genre of photography, lighting is the most important aspect of taking a great photo.

Try to get to the zoo as soon as it opens so you can see the animals in the morning orange/yellow light. While zoos don’t usually open at sunrise, the late morning (around 8am – 9am) light is still an easier time to shoot in than the afternoon when the sun is right overhead. You could also leave photographing the big cats for the end of the day but then you risk being in a hurry. So, choose wisely!

The weather will also affect the kind of light you will have to work with. Sunny mornings will make the orange/yellow coats of the cats pop. While the afternoon sun can create a lot of contrast in the scene, you could turn these into dramatic B/W photos in post.  A cloudy day will act as a natural diffuser and give you soft white light. A rainy day, while a little challenging to photograph in, can give you beautiful streaks of rain in your pictures at slow shutter speeds. The rain also brings out behavior in animals that you would not normally see otherwise. Don’t forget to take an umbrella if you expect it to rain! More on animal behavior later.

The gear

You don’t need a very fancy camera body to shoot great pictures in the zoo. All the images you see in this post were shot with a Nikon D7100. When it comes to lenses, I would recommend a focal length of 200-300mm with the widest aperture you can afford. If you don’t own any telephoto lenses, you can always rent them from the local camera store.  Some good examples are the Nikon 300mm f4 PF, Nikon 70-200 mm f4, Nikon 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 etc. Since I use a Nikon system, I have provided Nikon lenses. Any equivalent lens from a different camera system would work just fine.

The environment

Safari

The ideal safari – a private safari, a vehicle which is low on the ground, the driver is your best buddy, he owes you a favor, so you don’t have to pay! I’ve never been in one like that because they are PRETTY expensive (let me know if you do :P). If your budget allows it, go for it! You want the vehicle low on the ground so you can get great portraits of the cats with the background completely defocused. Also, safaris usually open before the main zoo, so you might even be able to shoot in the golden hour.

Bonus tip: don’t assume the zoo and the safari are going to be next to each other. I made that mistake in San Diego and found out the hard way that the safari is a 45 min cab ride away from the zoo.

Enclosed Zoo

I’ve run into three kinds of enclosures:

1. open air – These are the best kind. The cats are separated from you by a wide and deep stream that the animals cannot swim or leap across. Keep one eye on the cat through the camera and the other on the bustling tourists who could accidentally knock your camera into the enclosure, and you see it falling in slow motion while your frantically try to grab the thousands of dollars from the air.
2. glass enclosure – Carry a small cloth with a small bottle of glass cleaner with you to wipe the glass clean. It’s going to get a few giggles from people but it’s going to be worth it! If you are dealing with annoying reflections, use a polarizer. That should cut the reflections enough to remove the rest in post processing. Polarizers are usually very cheap to rent if you don’t have one. Make sure to get a good quality polarizer. You don’t want to cheap out on a polarizer, cover your $2000 lens with it and ruin your photos. 
3. mesh enclosure – Ugh! These are the worst. Shoot through the gaps or shoot from as close to the mesh as possible. If your subject is far away from the mesh on the other side, the mesh will disappear in the photo as your camera focuses past it. Any remnants can be removed in post processing.

The background

As soon as we see the animal, it’s our tendency to point the camera straight at the subject and shoot away. Then you come home and see the pictures in your computer and notice that the background is either boring, busy or in the worst case, there’s a tree or pole protruding out of your subject’s head.

Pay close attention to the background before you are satisfied with your picture. It can be difficult to find good backgrounds inside a zoo. I usually wait for the animal to sit in front of some dark trees which can later in post be darkened to create a low-key image. If there are no trees, I wait for the animal to sit a little farther from the back of the enclosure to get good bokeh. This, of course, is easier to do with lenses that have a large aperture like f2.8 or even f4.

Alternatively, you could eliminate the background completely by shooting tight crops. We’ve all seen those extreme closeups of lions and tigers on Instagram. These are easier create in the zoo with a relatively small focal length like 300mm and some cropping.

Animal behaviour

If you want to take more interesting pictures, you need to better understand your subjects. Here are some behaviors to watch out for while shooting common big cats:

Lions – Lions live in a group (called a ‘pride’) of one male and many females. Take advantage of this to capture some intimate portraits of the lion family. Another thing about lion, they LOVE to sleep. You will have to be very patient to see them awake. They are however more active in zoos than they are in the wild due to the presence of people nearby. Make sure you are ready to click the lion yawning with its mouth wide open. It makes for a spectacular image.

Tigers – Tigers are solitary animals, they can go years without seeing another tiger. They pace around in the enclosure a lot so it should be easy to click them in action. Tigers are also great swimmers, so they are usually kept in a large enclosure with a water body. If you are patient enough, you might even get to click them swimming in the water.

Leopards – Leopards love to sit in trees. So, you will usually see them sitting on a tree in the enclosure, sometimes with their food.

Try to bring out these behaviors in your photos. It makes the photos come to life. But this will require a lot of patience and that patience is always rewarded. Also, be ready to have your eye to the camera at all times so you don’t miss out on any action. Not bragging but I spent an entire hour standing at the lion enclosure in the Singapore Zoo, waiting for the lion to just wake up and yawn. If you have an idea of what behaviors to look for, it will make it easier to get pictures that stand out.

Some final thoughts…

Wildlife photography is all about patience. The more patient you are, the more opportunities you will get. There is a deep sense of satisfaction in waiting patiently in bringing that picture you have in mind to life. I hope you get to experience it. Please be kind and respectful to the animals at the zoo. Do not disturb them for the sake of a good picture. While you are there, consider making a small contribution to the zoo to help them take better care of the animals. Most zoos are involved in wildlife conservation, so any contributions you make will go towards that goal.

If you have any questions regarding this subject, feel free to comment below or reach out to me using the form in the contact page. I will try my best to help. Happy shooting 🙂