Zoo Walk Part I - a Kitty-Palooza

robbins.photo · Jun 28, 2014

Ok, after receiving several PM's and at least one death threat, it occurred to me that I hadn't really posted much in the way of kitty pics in a while, so, here we go:

20140628 262 by robbins.photo, on Flickr

20140628 089 by robbins.photo, on Flickr

20140628 403 by robbins.photo, on Flickr

20140628 492 by robbins.photo, on Flickr

20140628 534 by robbins.photo, on Flickr

20140628 583 by robbins.photo, on Flickr

gsgary · Jun 28, 2014

As I have said before should not be in wildlife forum these are captive and not wild

JustJazzie · Jun 28, 2014

Number one does it for me! Just lovely as always. How do you over come the glass? Every time I try to shoot like this there is so much glare and so many scratched that I scrap the shots...

robbins.photo · Jun 28, 2014

gsgary said:
As I have said before should not be in wildlife forum these are captive and not wild

Your opinion has thus been duly noted and logged. Please feel free to pickup the official 10849998 Stroke J form on your way out, fill it out and return it to the moderators in triplicate so that it can be given it's due attention. NEXT!

Lol

robbins.photo · Jun 28, 2014

JustJazzie said:
Number one does it for me! Just lovely as always. How do you over come the glass? Every time I try to shoot like this there is so much glare and so many scratched that I scrap the shots...

Well I've found CPL's are next to useless unfortunately, they cut too much of the available light indoors and pexiglass actually reflects on multiple levels so the CPL really isn't that effective to begin with, so what I end up doing is checking the viewfinder and seeing if I can spot reflections, if I do I move a little right or left, change my angle just slightly, and try to move the reflections to the outside of the frame where I can crop them out later. Not always 100% effective but best I've come up with so far.

DarkShadow · Jun 28, 2014

Man your kittie shots are fabulous.I can't even pick a favorite its to darn hard,going to let someone else do that.

JustJazzie · Jun 28, 2014

robbins.photo said:
Well I've found CPL's are next to useless unfortunately, they cut too much of the available light indoors and pexiglass actually reflects on multiple levels so the CPL really isn't that effective to begin with, so what I end up doing is checking the viewfinder and seeing if I can spot reflections, if I do I move a little right or left, change my angle just slightly, and try to move the reflections to the outside of the frame where I can crop them out later. Not always 100% effective but best I've come up with so far.

Thanks! We don't go to the zoo too often, but I'll try to file this tip away for next time!

Overread · Jun 28, 2014

Awwws love the first shot - fantastic wide open eyes!

And that tiger seems to share the same views of the newspaper press as my own

gsgary said:
As I have said before should not be in wildlife forum these are captive and not wild

This isn't the place to raise the issue let alone discuss it - start a thread in the feedback section if you want to discuss the policy.

robbins.photo · Jun 28, 2014

JustJazzie said:
robbins.photo said:

Well I've found CPL's are next to useless unfortunately, they cut too much of the available light indoors and pexiglass actually reflects on multiple levels so the CPL really isn't that effective to begin with, so what I end up doing is checking the viewfinder and seeing if I can spot reflections, if I do I move a little right or left, change my angle just slightly, and try to move the reflections to the outside of the frame where I can crop them out later. Not always 100% effective but best I've come up with so far.

Click to expand...

Thanks! We don't go to the zoo too often, but I'll try to file this tip away for next time!

No worries JJ - happy to help when I can, I've got some stuff I shot at the lake today too - spent the morning at the zoo and the afternoon out there, but figured I'd better get the kitty shots up before the lynch mob showed up. Lol

DarkShadow said:
Man your kittie shots are fabulous.I can't even pick a favorite its to darn hard,going to let someone else do that.

Thanks DS - was pretty happy overall with the results today. Made me feel a whole lot better about picking up a new lens on Monday, I've got a shoot to do for a company outing and I need something in a little bit wider zoom, since the widest thing I have in my bag at the moment is the 50 mm.

Overread said:
Awwws love the first shot - fantastic wide open eyes!

And that tiger seems to share the same views of the newspaper press as my own

Lol... well if your local newspaper is as bad as ours I'm surprised he wasn't peeing all over it. I do love the Amur Leopard, but boy is he a pain in the keester to shoot. He loves to pace back and forth a lot. The snow leopards are always so much more cooperative. About the only time they move is when they are switching to a new position to continue their nap.

Braineack · Jun 28, 2014

I can only like once?!

robbins.photo · Jun 28, 2014

Braineack said:
I can only like once?!

Lol.. well, when you hit it a second time you unlock the secret bonus kitty:

20140628 705 by robbins.photo, on Flickr

We were all out of BFG's.. lol

baturn · Jun 29, 2014

All are excellent, but I too prefer #1.

snerd · Jun 29, 2014

Love #3, the stalking look!

Raj_55555 · Jun 29, 2014

The first three kitty shots are fantabulous, Especially love the Amur leopard & the Jaguar shots.. Is that scholar tiger, a cub? Seems a bit too furry.

gsgary said:
As I have said before should not be in wildlife forum these are captive and not wild

Not to offend you, but there won't be too many posts in this part of the forum if we only post pictures from safaris and wilderness. And to be fair, animals are part of Nature even when they are in the zoo..

robbins.photo · Jun 29, 2014

Raj_55555 said:
The first three kitty shots are fantabulous, Especially love the Amur leopard & the Jaguar shots.. Is that scholar tiger, a cub? Seems a bit too furry.

Thanks Raj!

The lion is still considered a cub I think, she was just born a little over a year ago. The tiger pictures, well there are actually 2 tigers in the photos above, both Siberian. The big guy with the newspaper is a real card - he's also the same on that I got the shot of him peeking over a log recently.

The second is a female, I think her name is Isabella. She's the one lounging in the water and then later on sleeping on her back. She is just beautiful - but she's no cub. That is one seriously big kitty there.. lol. She isn't quite as goofy as the big male Siberian they have indoors but she does have her moments.