passion when you find those shadows, and you’ll feel the exhilaration when
you capture that image. The animals will find the light for you, as often they
are basking in it for warmth.
As you walk down the paths at the zoo, look for light bouncing off the
water, walls, or even people’s clothing as they walk past—it may be as simple
as the shiny, silver base of the water fountain as you take
a drink to quench your thirst.
Practice this technique several months out of the year.
I still do it to keep my mind sharp, and it doesn’t hurt
to support your local zoo. If you’re lucky, they’ll buy
the images for their brochures or give you free admis-
sion in exchange for prints. If not, you might be able to
donate the use of your images in return for the by-line
that accompanies them in the zoo’s newsletter. You
might also be able to sell some of the images for stock
while improving your shooting techniques.Tom Suhler waited until darkness set in to photograph
Raven on a pathway thickly covered with tropical foliage.
Tom took advantage of the darkness and five lights to cre-
ate shadows and mood in this image. The main light, a
Hensel flash head powered by a Hensel Porty Premium bat-
tery pack, had a 7-inch metal reflector, a 20-degree grid,
and barndoors to help limit the path of the light. The back-
ground was colored with four Nikon speedlights, remotely
triggered. Each speedlight had either a blue or cyan gel.
(CAMERA:Nikon D3 fitted with Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens.
SETTINGS:22mm effective focal length,^1 / 250 second shutter
speed, f/8, white balance 5880, ISO 1250)