A few zoo shots from yesterday!

[cuezombies]

Sometime before I nearly died from sunstroke, I grabbed a few shots at the Dallas zoo. This is the first time my camera's been out of the bag in weeks- I missed her! (Not lazy, just sick.)

Here are a few of my favorites. I have sepia and black and white conversions of #2 and can't decide which is better, but I'll stick to the original color shot for this post in the interest of keeping it short. I wish I'd chosen a smaller aperture for that particular shot, but I sort of like it anyway.

Sorry about the face-kicking watermark!

1.

2.

3.

 

[doubleoh7]

are you looking for C&C - i didn't see a request - not sure, sorry??

 

[cuezombies]

are you looking for C&C - i didn't see a request - not sure, sorry??

Go for it! Feedback's always appreciated. Just keep in mind that I'm still way green at this and don't beat me too hard, please. Or do. I might like it.

 

[doubleoh7]

In general, I like the concept of the photos. The first shot looks like auto focus making the fence look like it was on plain with the subject - it really detracts from the subject. You could try waiting for the subject to move. 2. good composition, exposure is too dark or perhaps some shadow adjustment would help - but a good photo to work with. 3. good detail in the subject where the subject isn't blocked by whatever is on the right side of the shot. Lastly - I would loose the watermark. I understand why you have it there, but you're surrounded by photographers that could take as easily as good of a photo if not better and it detracts from the quality of the shot, even you mention the kick in the face it portrays. Keep shooting !!!!

 

[cuezombies]

Thanks for taking the time!

The fence in #1 was in fact nearly on plane with the monkey (unless I've misunderstood you?); he was right up against the fence. Someone's suggested that I might have gotten closer and gone lower than F/8 in order to minimize the visual presence of the fence and I wish I'd thought of it- although I was actually hanging over a split-rail fence to get that shot, so couldn't have gotten closer- drat! Lately I've been a little less willing to go lower as it seems like even in-focus areas are left soft, but honestly that may mean I haven't quite grasped what range of sharpness I have to work with at what focal distances. So I'll be doing more studying there!

My eye isn't trained enough- I just looked at #2's post-edit histogram and you're absolutely right, the exposure is off! I'm going to fiddle with it a bit more and see what I get. Darn, I really liked that one.

Re: #3, the OOF objects on either side are actually parts of the fence. That guy was flaked out right where two poles came together just to the side of the normal viewing area. Normally I'd have tried to shoot through the glass, bypassing most smudges with a wider aperture and cloning the rest out in post, but that darn panel was SO dirty that there was just no getting through it! So I was sort of left with the shot that you see. To make peace with it, I decided it was "creative natural framing", nodded to myself, and went on. :lmao: Newbs, huh?!

On one hand I'm with you on the watermark... believe me, I wouldn't feel compelled to swipe my pictures! On the other, I've seen worse made off with by the unwashed masses (or people who don't realize that the photos actually suck, bahah). Smugmug has an option to apply watermarks automatically and I don't want to be one of those people left feeling totally Violated By The Internet when one of their photos shows up somewhere it's not meant to be. I guess if I'm going to keep it I should at least drop it into the lower-right.

Thanks again! Every little bit of feedback I get is helpful.