Photographing animals in a zoo presents a unique and genuinely interesting set of creative challenges. Bars, fencing, crowds, shadows, and unpredictable animal behavior all conspire to complicate even the best-framed shot. Your Digital Photo Academy instructor will share proven strategies for working around these obstacles, including the patience and positioning techniques that allow you to capture moments that feel genuinely natural and wild rather than constrained.
You'll also explore compositional strategies and lens selection techniques that produce compelling images of animals in action and at rest, whether swimming, interacting with each other, or simply being themselves in their environment. And the animals are only part of the story at a zoo. Your instructor will help you develop skills for photographing the surrounding environment as well: floral and botanical details, the vendors and visitors who bring a zoo to life, and the facility's architecture and infrastructure as subjects in their own right.
The meeting point is at the public transit stop on Stockton Drive, just outside the West Main gate. It is close to the intersection of Stockton Drive and Webster, easy to find, and a quiet, comfortable place to gather before the session begins.
Each Composition in the Field class opens with a briefing from an experienced DPA instructor, followed by a guided walk through one of more than 20 photogenic locations across our network of cities. The program covers street photography, magnificent interiors, farmers' markets, zoo subjects, landscapes, and more. Sample images are drawn from both student and instructor work at venues across the United States and Canada.
You'll have a fantastic three-hour session, sharpen your approach to strategic image-making, and leave with practical skills that improve every photograph you take, from travel to celebrations to everyday creative shooting.
Please note that if a class must be canceled due to weather or other circumstances beyond our control, we will be happy to work with you to reschedule. If you need to cancel and require a different class date, please contact us. A $25 transfer fee applies when notice is given fewer than three days before the scheduled class.
