One of my favorite locations for photography is the Brookfield Zoo. The Brookfield Zoo is filled with fascinating subjects. And, many of the exhibits are quite large, feature natural environments and clear of obstructions (e.g., bars, windows, cages). In many exhibits, moats are used to separate the animals from the visitors. Also, the Brookfield Zoo encourages photography: permitting tripods, allowing flash in some of the indoor exhibits and hosting an annual photo contest!

When capturing photographs of animals at the zoo, my goal is to eliminate any evidence that the animal is in captivity. I try to accomplish this by carefully studying the background throughout the entire frame and changing my perspective when necessary to manage the background elements. Another common technique is to use a very narrow depth of field to blur the background. Many of my zoo photographs are captured with the lens wide open (i.e., with the lens set to its widest aperture).

Earlier this week, I captured a photograph of a peacock at the Brookfield Zoo. By getting close to the bird and using a very narrow depth of field, there is no indication that the picture was taken at the zoo. The downside to this is that most of my zoo photos are closeup portraits that lack a sense of the surrounding environment. For environment photographs, I plan to visit Yellowstone National Park in the next year or two!

The following photo was captured with the D800, 500 VR, f/4 (widest aperture), 1/500th, ISO 160: