Photographing Extinct Animals

I'm certain that many people must think my husband and I are quite strange; whenever we visit a new city, instead of searching out the hot new night clubs and trendy restaurants and shops, we look for museums. We love visiting Natural History Museums, and taking photographs to use in teaching paleontology and geology.

Years of photographing extinct animals in their not-so-natural habitats of the Natural History Museum has taught me a few tricks that I would like to share with you.

Before you grab your camera and begin snapping away at the museum, first make certain that flash photography is allowed. Most Natural History Museums in the United States and Canada allow flash photography throughout their exhibits, but some may restrict the use of a flash to certain areas, or may ban the use of a flash entirely. The light emitted from a camera's flash is very bright, and can cause rapid aging damage to skins, bones, and artifacts.

Many museums in Europe and elsewhere in the world ban photography entirely, or restrict it to non-flash photography. If you are in such a museum and want to take a photograph, you will need to use a high-speed film, one specifically formulated for low-light situations is best, or use a slower shutter speed and tripod. Always make certain that photography is allowed.

For years, I used a simple point-and-shoot camera. It took great pictures outside in good lighting, but the indoors shots often left something to be desired. They were often dark and grainy. While looking for good photgraphs to use in my articles "My Favourite Natural History Museums," I found that many of my photographs were simply not of good enough quality to use.

Earlier this year, my husband bought me a new camera, a Pentax IQZoom140M. This little camera does a great job. The zoom feature allows me to zoom in for a close-up of a neat feature, such as the hand of the Acrocanthosaurus skeleton at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh; North Carolina. The flash is bright and the camera takes great pictures even in very little light. We were amazed at the quality of the pictures from a recent trip to Luray Caverns in Luray, Virginia. It also takes great pictures of specimens behind glass, such as the Thescelosaur at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh; North Carolina. (Be sure to read my article, "Thescelosaurus: Dinosaur with a Heart?")

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