10 Ways To Use The Tamron 150-600mm Lens At Zoos

Image © David Pritchard

The Tamron 150-600mm lens is extremely versatile in pretty much any situations you use it in. But one situation where its versatility can be put to full use is at the zoo. Here, we run through how the lens can be used in a few different situations. 

Through bars

It's a well known trick that works particularly well at zoos and places where there are bars or fences hindering your view of an animal. If the fence isn't wide enough to let you shoot in between the bars, then using a long lens to zoom in and throw the fence or mesh out of focus is a great way to enable better shots of the animal. The long reach of the 150-600, with the help of a tripod, should enable you to shoot 'through' fences and mesh with a bit of tweaking of the settings. 

Image © David Pritchard

In dark indoor enclosures

Often if it's cold or adverse weather conditions for the animal you're photographing, they will retreat to their indoor enclosure. Some animals, like chimpanzees and larger mammals such as giraffes and rhino, are more likely to be seen indoors when you visit. In these gloomy conditions, you need a lens that will enable you to let as much light in as possible and shoot wide open to achieve a good exposure. The 150-600mm can produce stunning images using only a little directional light from a window or door, so you shouldn't be put off photographing an animal just because it's inside. 

 Image © David Pritchard 

Close ups of shy animals

The reach of the 150-600mm lens means it's ideal for capturing images of animals that are shy or like to live up high trees. A high zoom lens enables you to cut out the background surroundings of the image and focus solely on the creature, even if it means shooting through foliage or branches. This is displayed in the koala image above. 

Image © David Pritchard 

Wider environmental studies

The fact that the lens also zooms out to 150mm means that there is scope for environmental studies of the animals, too. This involves leaving a lot of the surrounding space in the image to create a sense of place for the subject. This is demonstrated in the image of the rock hyrax, above.