21. Photographing Fauna and Flora.

To take a good picture of an animal or a flower does not require you going to Africa or the Brazilian rain forest.

It could be done as close as your own backyard, a local zoo or a botanical garden.

Domestic animals are the most readily available animal subjects for fauna photography. Yours, or your neighbors' pets could be as good of a photo-subject as any other animals, especially taking under consideration that they are not camera shy.

Opposite from the local zoo's wild life, pets and domestic animals will allow you to move in much closer, using a shorter lens.

Animals' portraits always work well, especially if they are taken from the animal's eye level height as it was done photographing this cat.

It might take more film that you thought to take a good photo of an animal, so be prepared to shoot a lot of it, which will allow you to select your best photos afterward. It is important to exercise a certain degree of caution when approaching a wild animal, even when taking pictures at the local zoo.

Having long-focus lenses in your disposal could prove vital for your safety as well as allowing you to come up with a more candid photos. Use fast film speed. It will permit you to have a brief shutter speed or small lens opening to freeze your subject's movement. Long-focus lenses and high observation walkways offer the ways to eliminate picture-taking problems in the toes.

Thus wire fences and bars will not be in your way when photographing wild animals in captivity in the local zoo. A high camera position will help you to eliminate man-made safety barriers and unattractive backgrounds, and will allow you to incorporate into your photo some natural surroundings such as grass, water or stones. You will also need a lot of patience and timing in addition to a lot of film, in order to come up with good photographs.