Wildlife Photography Course - Western Plains Zoo

■ 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 ($90), 32GB cards for sale ($24)

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

Time	9am to 4pm
Location	Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Obley Road, Dubbo NSW
Meeting Point	Inside main top entrance near where you buy tickets

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 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 Western Plains 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, Orang-utan.
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 and camera instruction book

■ 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! If you are just starting out - that’s Ok . you are going to learn a lot over the 4 hours and we can chat alout a path forward as yo gain more experience. For nstance - a compact with a good zoom can produce fantastic results. We also like compacts with macro features for nature shots (ie Lumix LX100) Consider hybrid cameras like the Nikon P1000 with its incredible 125x zoom

■ Most of our clients over the years 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 lens such as a 24-105mm or 24mm-120mm etc. as you will be very close to many living animals such as in the reptile section. We have seen many of our fellow photographers on this course with some seriously good wildlife photography camera gear!

■Full frame cameras with their bigger sensors will give better results in certain situations (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. As a professional wildlife photographer in the field you need a back up camera in case of equipment failure. This is not necessary on a 4 hour course. If you have equipment failure - come back at another time at no charge.


■ 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 but by all means bring one along if you want. Its anti social shooting with a tripod with others around.

■ Shoulder or backpack camera bags are the best. If you have issues carrying a bag then a camera case on wheels whilst more cumbersome will suffice

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

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

■ 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 $24)

■ Charged camera battery and a spare if you have one

■ A wide-angle is useful for landscapes, a telephoto for wildlife

■ Your wildlife travel itinerary if you want feedback and camera instruction book

■ Your smartphone as a general resource tool and to grab video clips, Slo Mos etcYes you do, as the zoo entry fee is not included in this course. 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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How long does the course go for?
■ This course runs for 7 hours on the first day starting at 9:0am and finishing at 4pm. On the 2nd day we run 4 hours from 9am to 1pm , break for luch and finish off the 2 day course with a session on editing your images using Adobe Lightroom.

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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 as 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 girlfriends 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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Does the course generally run on the scheduled date & time?
■ Our policy is that we guarantee 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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Focus 10 runs fantastic, informative and always fun courses and tours. I have done 4 of them now - Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, 3801 Steam train and the most recent to Jervis Bay. Always a laugh and with excellent like minded, fellow photographers!

--Sean Dudding | product owner

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Thank you for one of the best 5 days ever. Lots of laughs, learn a huge amount, great group, food was fab, and eating out cheap. Super cooking class, brilliant photography with masses of variety each and every day. A highlight for me was the Full moon festival. Amazing! A memorable adventure. Sign me up for your Cinque Terre course in October! Cheers

--Samantha Knight

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Super smartphone training session for our leisure sales team. Thanks for the complimentary give vouchers to each participant as well. Cheers

--Nick Ward / Head of Leisure Sales

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Thanks for the great job you did for our IBM Golf Day last week
I would like to confirm that the price of $1390.00 you quoted is ex GST. Please send another invoice to me and I will get in our accounts

-- Sally McCurtayne / Personal Assistant

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This has to be one of the best value and most comprehensive beginners photography courses. A huge amount of content, outside shooting with 10 workshops, 2 night sessions and an additional 4 hour workshop of our choice. I went from zero to hero in my understanding the fundamentals of photography. Keep up the good work!

--Annie knight

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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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Thanks for the feedback and I am loving your photos. We look forward to catching up again when you are next in Byron Bay

--Sarah Gasparre / real estate photographer

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Hi Andrew... Thanks for a fantastic day today. I'm keen to do the SLR 2 and night photography, please let me know dates. Thanks again!

--Alex Jucovic

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