Jacksonville Zoo Challenge

On our family weekend to Jacksonville, we decided to visit the Zoo. Going to the zoo in the summer can be very hot! Therefore, the great people at the Jacksonville Zoo offered a promotion called, "92 at the zoo." This promotion gave us a half off discount for having a forecasted temperature of over 92 degrees. What a great deal?! Heck yeah, that's what we thought! For a family of three, this was a huge savings and allowed us to enjoy our day even more. So, it was time to start our safari across the Zoo world to see the amazing animals.

The animals were so great, I decided to use my Nikon D3300 to do a Zoo Challenge. My challenge was to capture as many sharp pictures as possible of the exhibits and as you can imagine, it is very difficult to capture clear and crisp photos of wild animals. You have no control over the way they stand or move. This meant that I had to figure out my settings to use and try to leave them that way, right? Yes and No! I had to figure out the settings to use in a couple different scenarios and I could switch back and forth quickly.

I listed the settings that I was able to use to capture my shots of these amazing animals.

Extremely Sunny Areas:

ISO: 100

Shutter Speed: 200

Aperture: f/5

Covered Sunny Areas:

ISO: 200

Shutter Speed: 125

Aperture: 6.5

Shaded or Indoor Areas:

ISO: 400

Shutter Speed: 60 (depending on lighting)

Aperture: 6.5