MN Zoo Pics C&C please

[juane414]

I took this last weekend at the Minnesota Zoo. Let me know what you think of them please!

#1

#2

#3

#4

 

[mrodgers]

I think they are really bright.

(the following I feel is relevant...) My coworker brought in his XTi today at work. He uses it in full auto mode. We argue all the time because even though I don't have an expensive dSLR camera, I do shoot in the manual modes and have never been in auto since I started this photography stuff.

Anyways, we needed pictures of some sample material, so braggingly, he shot the samples in full auto and handed it to me to shoot my way. I had only had a nice dSLR in my hands once previous (a D40x) and had never taken a shot with one. I set it up in aperture priority, checked the ISO and other various stuff, set the camera up on a countertop and used the timer function.

His AUTO everything came out much nicer than my aperture priority "photography style" shots. Mine were way too bright (over exposed), the color was way off, and the shots were blurry. Note, I know nothing about this camera as I do on how to set up my camera. Thus, I am thinking that his camera would need some negative exposure compensation when using Av or Tv or set up to the left of the light meter display if setting up in manual mode.

He gloated all day about how much better his "full Auto" shots were than my shots, but I didn't have a chance to learn from my shots and adjust anything.

I would make a guess from your shots and my experience today with the XTi that you need to knock a little exposure compensation down a little bit to get some more contrast and better exposure.

They don't look very sharp to me either, much like my shots today. I don't have an opinion on that because I was too engrossed in being amazed at how much faster his XTi was than my little Fuji S5700 is with shutter lag.

Just my thoughts.


I wanted to play with his camera all day long, but, well, it's not my camera and I couldn't exactly ask him if I could take it out on the plant floor with me to play with it. We had work to do anyways analyzing the sample materials and sending out results.

 

[djacobox372]

All, except the 2nd, are a bit over exposed.

The first photo needs some white balance correction--it's way too yellow.

The 2nd photo has the most potential, with some localized exposure correction it would be my favorite.

 

[juane414]

Thanks guys. I actually took the first picture through a pane of glass, which may be the cause of the yellow tint. The overexposed shots are probably due to my lack of experience. It was actually really cloudy out and I think I overcompensated for the darkness. As for sharpness, I was borrowing a friends zoom lens and since it had no IS and I'm still new to photography, I probably wasn't holding the camera perfectly still. Thanks for the help.