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

■ Guarantee that you can repeat the course for free if you are feeling off colour or its raining

■ 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 ($19)

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

Time	9.30am to 1.30pm
Location	Taronga Zoo Bradleys Head Road, Mosman NSW 2088
Meeting Point	Inside main top entrance near where you buy tickets at the cafe tables

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 compelling nature photography portfolio

■ Learn about other great wildlife and nature destinations

■ Individual attention - no more than 6 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

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What animals are we likely to photograph?
■ The main animals we photograph at Taronga Zoo include:
Giraffes, Elephants, Sumatran Tigers, Pygmy Hippos, Koala, Platypus, Wombat, Bandicoot, Squirrel Glider, Little Penguin, Australian Fur Seal, Leopard Seal, Freshwater Crocodile, Komodo Dragon, Chimpanzee, Western Lowland Gorilla, Silvery Gibbon, Otter, Malayan Tapir, Gibbon, Red Panda, Snow Leopard, Meerkat, zebra
As you can see... Taronga has an exhaustive varies of living flora from around the world and we are lucky to shoot a fraction on this list!

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What do I need to bring ?
Water bottle, Camera , A charged camera battery and a spare if you have one.
You do not need to bring a tripod.

■ Your wildlife travel itinerary if you want feedback on your upcoming adventure

■ Your smartphone as a general resource tool and to grab video clips, Slo Mos etc

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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.

Can I rent a camera?
■ Yes - we have cropped DLSR Canon and Nikon Camera's for rent with a 70-300mm lens. (making it a 450mm lens with a 1.5x crop factior.
The rental fee is 40 ( payable when you book or on the day via card or cash)
■ Lexar 32GB high speed SD cards are available for purchase for $24 per card from us ( or bring your own SD card)

■ 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 grab stills and video clips

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How long does the course go for?
■ This course runs for 4 hours, starting at 9:30am and finishing at 1:30pm. 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 4 hours by request.

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Terms & Conditions
Payments
Paying for your course in full upon booking will confirm your attendance. Places are limited on all courses.

Refunds
We reserve the right to cancel and reschedule any course, due to inadequate enrolment, bad weather, instructor illness, an 'act of God' or a force majeure such as a pandemic. As an example, a photography course has to be cancelled or deferred to another date and time due to Covid 19 border closures and lockdowns which is beyond the control of Focus 10 Pty Ltd and other related parties. We also reserve the right to cancel any course if there is insufficient demand, especially if it means that our costs would be higher than our income. Please therefore do not leave it until the last few weeks if you are interested in a particular date, as you may find that it has been cancelled. As our costs for each training event remain the same no matter how many delegates attend, like any pre-booked tickets for the theatre, concert, flights etc, we are unable to give a full refund in the event of non-attendance, regardless of the circumstances. If withdrawal occurs within the 14 days before the course starts we will try to put you on an alternative date if places are available. Please note that we cannot be liable for any other costs incurred by yourself, so please check with us before booking any non-refundable accommodation or transport.

Workshop Photography:
We reserve the right to take photographic, (both still and video) records of any of our workshops/courses which may be used for promotional purposes, submissions, advertising and records. We grant permission for participants to use any images captured by them during this workshop for self-promotion only. Participants may not make any financial gain from any images captured during this workshop/course.

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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 cannot thank you enough for spending your Sunday with Hannah giving her excellent photography training. It was a hot day and you had to work hard.
We loved the photos and she learnt a lot, there were smiles all round.

--Pam Jacob / Financial Officer

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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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Thanks for the Watagan Park photo shoot of the 4 houses. – Brett was very happy with the outcome and he just wanted to be very clear with the location of the villages (for you to make sure your pricing was correct). He would like you to schedule in some time to go to Wongawilli . Thanks for the great deal on the drone shots as well as the Marsden Parks ones.

-- Sarah King / Graphic Designer

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I have known Andrew for 25 years now and he is always willing the go that extra mile and is a talented photographer. We share a common love for India and travel in general. Over the years Andrew has been the judge for the Australian newspapers regular travel competitions and we love his enthusiasm and commitment.

--Susan Kurosawa / Travel editor

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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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We use Focus 10 for all our corporate photography around Australia and SE Asia. Focus 10 always delivers under the pressure to photograph our clients in any setting. |

--David Apps

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"The course was really helpful for our forthcoming jaunt around Asia. We'll take a look at the courses online and book something in (probably when we're back from Cambodia as we've only got a couple of weeks till we leave). These notes are terrific as well. I've already made a note to take a print out with me on our trip. Cheers,"

-- Sylvia Nguyen / Change Manager

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