A few from the trip to the local zoo

[jake337]

why did you choose bw?

Sorry mmaria I forgot to answer your question. They may not be wearing clothes but I till feel Ted Grants quote applies.

"When you photograph people in color, you photograph their clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and white, you photograph their souls!"

 

[pjaye]

Gary's sentiments are correct as these animals technically are not wild. I have a love/hate relationship with zoos. I hate seeing these animals in such small areas in comparison to the natural habitats. At the same time my son is sooooo interested in animals.

If you have a love hate relationship with zoos I suggest strongly you do a heck of a lot more research and find out who it is that actually is responsible for the vast majority of the promotion/funding/organization of groups that try to preserve animal populations in the wild. You'll find most major conservation efforts are back by a zoo of some sort, if not multiple zoo's. It might also help to do some research and discover that the vast majority of animals that currently live in zoo's were actually born at either that zoo or another zoo and that at the present time they represent the best hope for the survival of many species.

So you can help support your local zoo by purchasing memberships, taking pictures, hopefully helping to encourage people to go to their local zoo and get involved - or you can sit around and nitpick on the internet as to what "category" this picture or that picture belongs in which does no one any good. Personally I'll stick with the former.

This :thumbup:

Also, a lot of the animals in my local zoo are wildlife that were found injured. They can't be released back into the wild, they'll die. However, they are still wildlife, they are NOT domesticated.

 

[jake337]

This :thumbup:

Also, a lot of the animals in my local zoo are wildlife that were found injured. They can't be released back into the wild, they'll die. However, they are still wildlife, they are NOT domesticated.

I guess when I wrote that my thinking of "wild" equated to wilderness. I never used the word domesticated once in this thread.

 

[robbins.photo]

This :thumbup:

Also, a lot of the animals in my local zoo are wildlife that were found injured. They can't be released back into the wild, they'll die. However, they are still wildlife, they are NOT domesticated.

I guess when I wrote that my thinking of "wild" equated to wilderness. I never used the word domesticated once in this thread.

They are referring to the actual dictionary definition of the word "wildlife", which is "any non-domesticated animal". I do realize for you this isn't a huge issue, and that's ok with me as well - thing is we do have at least one poster here who has gone out of his way to make it a huge issue whenever possible, so some of what your getting in responses here might seem a little a bit adamant but just keep in mind that when your responding in a public forum your not always responding just specifically back to one person but rather addressing everyone who might be reading all at once.

I would encourage you to do a little more research into the topic of Zoo's and their role in preserving and conserving animals living in the wild, I think you will be rather surprised at what you might find, and I think you will most likely come to the same conclusion that I did - that supporting your zoo and doing whatever you can in playing even a small part in helping others discover their local zoo is a very, very good thing for all of these animals, not just the ones that live at that particular zoo but those that live at other zoos and in the wild.

 

[jake337]

They are referring to the actual dictionary definition of the word "wildlife", which is "any non-domesticated animal". I do realize for you this isn't a huge issue, and that's ok with me as well - thing is we do have at least one poster here who has gone out of his way to make it a huge issue whenever possible, so some of what your getting in responses here might seem a little a bit adamant but just keep in mind that when your responding in a public forum your not always responding just specifically back to one person but rather addressing everyone who might be reading all at once.

I would encourage you to do a little more research into the topic of Zoo's and their role in preserving and conserving animals living in the wild, I think you will be rather surprised at what you might find, and I think you will most likely come to the same conclusion that I did - that supporting your zoo and doing whatever you can in playing even a small part in helping others discover their local zoo is a very, very good thing for all of these animals, not just the ones that live at that particular zoo but those that live at other zoos and in the wild.

Like I said. I know all about what Zoo's do to help. That will never change the fact that I don't like seeing animals out of their natural habitat. I still support my local zoo's and always will.

 

[robbins.photo]

Like I said. I know all about what Zoo's do to help. That will never change the fact that I don't like seeing animals out of their natural habitat. I still support my local zoo's and always will.

To each their own I suppose. Me I enjoy the chance to see and interact with animals, regardless - I don't fill my head with a lot of prejudices that simply don't have much to do with reality.

As to the photographs, you might seriously want to reconsider using color rather than B&W - I would disagree wholeheartedly with the notion that converting to B&W somehow mystically convey's the "soul" - in fact on gorilla shots I would say that the opposite is most likely true in most situations. Because of their dark colored faces and heavy brows it's difficult at times even with color to discern the animals facial expression, and it can often take a bit of post processing to really pull that off. By converting to black and white, well unfortunately you lose a lot of that detail and make it indiscernible because the critter's face is black to begin with - and without the more subtle variations that the color version provides the facial expression is lost or muddled at best.

Again, to each their own I suppose. If you truly like the B&W version better then more power to you, but for me I think the color version would most likely improve the shot dramatically.