Wildlife Photography Course

■ Ideal for anyone who loves the natural world & wanting to take much better wildlife photos

■ Learn skills set to shoot flora, fauna & birds

■ Improve your technique whilst creating a fabulous nature photography portfolio

■ Learn about other great wildlife and nature destinations

■ Expert tuition from professional wildlife photographer Andrew Thomasson

■ Gain first-hand experience with all cameras, with 'hands on' shooting  

■ Freezing and showing motion, exposure, focus modes and points

■ Meet interesting, like minded persons who love wildlife, travel & photography

■ Individual attention - no more than 6 persons per group 

■ Detailed notes and free advisory service on cameras & lenses

■ Gaining hands on experience shooting a variety of wildlife in a controlled environment striving for a natural shot

■ Ideal for anyone who loves the natural world & wanting to take much better wildlife photos

■ Learn how to use the essential features on your digital camera to shoot wildlife

■ How to capture fast moving subjects by using freezing and slow motion & exposure and focus modes on your camera

■ Improve your technique whilst creating a fabulous nature photography portfolio

■ Learn about other great wildlife and nature destinations

■ Learn about great wildlife and nature destinations around the world

■ Interactive, dynamic, fun. Hands-on shooting

■ No previous photography experience is required

■ A digital DLSR, mirror-less or compact camera

■ For DLSR and mirror-less camera users, at least one multi range lens

■ Memory Card(s) - at least a 4GB card

■ Charged camera battery

■ DLSR Nikon & Canon cameras for hire ($50), 8GB cards for sale ($25)

■ Please check the FAQ section for further comments on camera gear

Time	9am to 1pm
Location	Perth Zoo -20 Labouchere Road, South Perth WA 6151, South Perth
Meeting Point	20 Labouchere Road, South Perth - outside front main entrance

Why do this Wildlife course?
■ Gaining hands on experience shooting a variety of wildlife in a controlled environment, giving you photos which appear to have been shot in the wild.

■ Ideal for anyone who loves the natural world & wanting to take much better wildlife photos

Learn how to use the essential features on your digital camera to shoot wildlife

■ How to capture fast moving subjects by using freezing and slow motion & exposure and focus modes on your camera

■ Improve your technique whilst creating a fabulous nature photography portfolio

■ Learn about other great wildlife and nature destinations

■ Individual attention - no more than 8 persons per group

■ Detailed notes and free advisory service on cameras & lenses

■ Learn about great wildlife and nature destinations around the world

■ Interactive, dynamic, fun. Hands-on shooting

■ Expert tuition from professional wildlife photographer Andrew Thomasson and / or Serena Peace

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What animals are we likely to photograph?
The main animals we photograph at Perth Zoo include:
African Lions, Orangutans, Asian Elephants, Zebras, Southern White Rhinoceros, Sumatran Tigers, Sun Bears, Little Penguins, Dingos, Brolgas, Death Adder, Galapagos Tortoise, Golden Lion Tamarin, Red Panda and Quokkas.

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What do I need to bring?
Water bottle, A smartphone, compact, mirror-less and/ or a DLSR camera, memory Card(s): we recommend at least a 4 GB card for each session of shooting, a charged camera battery and a spare if you have one. You do not need to bring a tripod.

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What sort of camera gear do you suggest for this course?
■ Bring the camera gear you have to get started. If you have some great gear - bring it!. You are going to gain knowledge over the 4 hours about camera gear and shooting techniques. For Instance - a compact with a good zoom can produce great result such as the hybrid camera like the Nikon P1000 with its incredible 125x zoom

■ Most of our clients have cropped frame DSLR camera and mirrorless camera's. A cropped sensor DLSR camera with an 'all rounder' wide angle to a Canon 18-135, Tamron 16-300mm, Nikon 18-300mm zoom will suffice. Also bear in mind you can get close to many of the animals as its in a zoo. Ideally you will have a long telephoto lens such as as a 70-300mm, 100-400mm Canon or Nikon, 200-500 Nikon, 150-600mm, Tamron or Sigma fixed 600mm, Sony FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS Lens and other great wildlife photography combinations. Back that up with a second all rounder lens such as a 24-105mm or 24mm-120mm and you are all set.

■ Full frame cameras with their bigger sensors will give better results in certain situations (ie great for cropping in on a distant animal) Most pro wildlife photographers will also have a quality cropped DLSR as it increases a lens focal length by around a 1.5x factor.

■ External on-camera flash units can be useful in wide open spaces such as on African savanna plains. They are not so useful in a zoo with lots of leaves in a bush environment & shooting through glass. If you have one bring it along and we will give tips on its usage.

■ Tripods are not necessary as you can rest your camera on fences but by all means bring one along if you want.

■ Shoulder or backpack camera bags are the best. If you have issues carrying a bag then a camera case on wheels is handy.

■ A beanbag is highly useful to plonk on the myriad of zoo picket fences and to nest your camera into it for stabilised shots.

■ U/V, ND and polarising filters are not an essential item but useful. Bring then along if you have them.

■ Large reflectors are frowned upon in zoos. However when actually out in the field they are great. A 5-in-1 reflector (a 42" one is a good size)

■ Memory Card(s): we recommend at least a 8 GB card for each session of shooting (we sell 32GB hi speed cards for $25)

■ Charged camera battery and a spare if you have one

■ Bring your smartphone as a general resource tool and to take stills and to grab video clips

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How long does the course go for?
This course runs for 4 hours, starting at 9:00am and finishing at 1:00pm. This timeframe avoids the crowds and heat of the day in Summer.

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Do I have to pay the entry fee to the zoo?
Yes you do, as the zoo entry fee is not included in this course. Quite a few of our clients have annual passes hence we do not add that into the course cost.
We highly recommend buying an annual pass if you live in the area, this provides the greatest value for money. There are many reciprocal arrangements with other zoos around Australia

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Can we custom tailor this course for my organisation or group of friends?
Yes you can. We have many groups who want a custom tailored course for a school reunion, a high school group, a re-union of travellers, for photography clubs, wildlife organisations, government departments and private enterprises for team building, inventive rewards and many more reasons. Many private and government organisations around Australia have organised private groups with us. The course can also be expanded out to more than four hours by request.

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Does the course generally run on the scheduled date & time?
Our policy is that the course will run this course with as little as 2 persons and more. As in any advertised product or service - events ( such as Covid 19) can occur out of our control. We reserve the right to cancel or defer any course in extenuating circumstances. We however will give you a refund or credit. Out of town attendees can gift this credit voucher to someone else.

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Hi Andrew,

I just wanted to say thank you again for Friday. I learned so much in such a short amount of time. I’ve been showing all of my photos to anyone that will look and listen. I’ve attached a few of my faves. After you left I went back to a few of the aviaries and just practiced. Your knowledge of my camera was really impressive and the way you explained things to me made it really clear.

--Angelica Butler / Creative Director

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The course was great. Have done a few shoots since the course with some good results ( I Think. LOL). I’m ready to hit the ground running now. Thanks so much for all your help. The course was well worth it that’s for sure.

--Andrew Patrick

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We have worked with Andrew for 19 years now and he is unfailingly reliable and always goes out of his way to help out our business. He have given us training in property photography and is always giving free advice on how we can further improve.

-- Heidi Robertson / Office manager

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Andrew gave our staff training in how to get better social media shots on our smartphones in on location at our farms in Murrurundi NSW and Canungra QLD. The training was very concise and professional and he even gave us free lessons on flying his drone. We are certainly happy to recommend Focus 10 for photography for any training.

--Adelaide Moses / Marketing and Communications Manager

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Hi Andrew,

It was great to catch up with you this afternoon. I feel that doing your course was extremely beneficial and since then, using your tips, my confidence and ability with my camera has increase exponentially. Thank you so much for the information on the Indian photo processing lab. I hope that I'm able to get good at Photoshop and Lightroom but it's good to have them there as a back up just in case.

--Katrina Price

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I want to thank you very much for the course a last Saturday. It was very easy to learn through this sort of experience. The models were gorgeous! I will be confident enough to do a small wedding and the course manual is incredibly detailed. Thanks.

--Sam Khoudair / wedding photographer

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Andrew has been training our staff, photographing for us over 30 years and has led many Australian and overseas photography tours for World Expeditions. A superb photographer with the ability to handle pressure and to deal with the unexpected. Andrew is very personable and always delivers way more than asked for. Highly recommended.

-- Sue Badyari / General Manager

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Focus 10 was out main photographer at all our corporate functions at Tyco when I was on Australia. We have recently purchased the
96o page Complete Professional Photography Course that Andrew co-authored with Code Lime Photography. Its a brilliant resource manual on everything photographic and our company is finding it useful.

-- John Newbury |

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