Recently I took a trip to an exotic bird viewing location where you could fee, talk to, and take pictures of these beautiful animals. I must admit, I'm much more comfortable around four-legged animals than feathered ones, but I enjoyed seeing these gorgeous creations as well.
Sometimes it can be very difficult to get the shot you're looking to get in an enclosed environment, such as a zoo. Many times you may really want a specific photo, but lighting or caging does not permit it. I want to share a few tricks I use in these situations.
First, it can be important to ask workers who are standing by how close you can get to the animal to get a photo. This will determine which lens you choose to use. I always recommend shooting with the fastest lens that you own (the lens that has the lowest aperture). I'm all about clean backgrounds. I have worked my tail end off to achieve this look in all of my photos, and I'm still improving at it constantly. But if you're shooting with a wide angle lens simply because it's your fastest lens, and you end up with a very distracting background, you could have gotten a better shot in my opinion.
In photography school, I learned about an artistic element called: dominating foreground, contributing background. So I suppose if you juxtapose the image content correctly, you can end up with neat shots without a perfectly clean background. I believe that your images will look more natural and authentic, however, if you work to soften out that background.
One technique I use to achieve this look is to hold my camera above my head and "guess shoot". That is, if I can't get the shot I'm looking for at eye level or below. I will often use this technique if the animal I'm working with needs eye contact in order to maintain interest in me. These birds seemed to be fascinated by their image in the reflection, but they were also used to having people in their faces.
Fortunately, I was able to get within inches of these birds, making it much easier for me to get the shot I wanted. If ever you are unable to get within inches or a few feet of your exotic animal subject, I would recommend using a good telephoto lens and turn your flash off. Telephoto images with on camera flash really never work, unless you're just looking to document the event and don't care about the image quality.
There are so many shots that I took at this location that I hoped in the moment would work out, but in my minds eye it was clear that they wouldn't because of the light, background, or expressions. So many beautiful birds, but choosing the images I wanted to display came down to best capture of simplicity and character.
So go explore! Go to your local zoo or domesticated exotic animal location and shoot away. Learn how to not only edit and share a photo because you're excited about it. Instead, learn how to share the most quality work you can produce with the tools and techniques you have.