At The Zoo (Again)

[MSnowy]

Nice set.

 

[manicmike]

The owl one is the best imo. He has that "I'm secretly plotting to kill you" look.

 

[Newtricks]

Scott, All great photo's and exemplary camera craft, the shot you took in 2011 does in fact convey the menace that animal has for captivity.

 

[DarkShadow]

Judging by that last lynx shot thats no fluffy kitty kitty. That thing will tear a limb off.

 

[SCraig]

Nice set.

Thanks, much appreciated.

The owl one is the best imo. He has that "I'm secretly plotting to kill you" look.

I really love those owls. They are not happy critters this time of year, and the zoo keeps a fan blowing in their area to keep them cooler. In the winter, when most of the other animals are kept in their kennels, these two are up and alert and happy.

I don't think her look is all that much of a secret though

Scott, All great photo's and exemplary camera craft, the shot you took in 2011 does in fact convey the menace that animal has for captivity.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed them. Udo is not a happy kitty most of the time. I don't think it's so much being in captivity as it is that he's just a hunter at heart. I would hate to be the squirrel that chose to climb down into that area!

BTW, those were all shot with my D7000 using the 70-300 Nikkor lens. That combination is certainly capable of sharp shots, although admittedly these were pretty close. The Lynx and Owl were shot through heavy wire mesh fences though. That combination of camera body and lens does do an excellent job.

 

[SCraig]

Judging by that last lynx shot thats no fluffy kitty kitty. That thing will tear a limb off.

The placard outside their cage says that they can catch and take down an animal that weighs 3 to 4 times their weight. A full-grown Eurasian Lynx can weigh up to 66 pounds so that means something in the range of 225+ pounds is in jeopardy. These are probably rather slow due to having lived in captivity for so long, but I still would NOT want to be the guy that gets on their bad side.

 

[Newtricks]

BTW, those were all shot with my D7000 using the 70-300 Nikkor lens. That combination of camera body and lens does do an excellent job.

Your query and advice about using the sharpness setting when editing RAW files was all I needed, not knowing it did I had used it vary little. My photos have been much better since learning about it. For close/stationary shots the D7000/70-300mm combo works great.

 

[SCraig]

Your query and advice about using the sharpness setting when editing RAW files was all I needed, not knowing it did I had used it vary little. My photos have been much better since learning about it. For close/stationary shots the D7000/70-300mm combo works great.

Great! That was an easy fix then. RAW files have no sharpening applied which is why they tend to look a little softer than JPEG files. I have a "Settings" file set up for Capture NX2 as the last step in my editing that embeds an sRGB color space, resizes the image, and adds some sharpening.

 

[baturn]

Nobody else has said anything, but I like the cockatoo close up, probably because I would never think of it myself, and as every one has said the lynx is gorgeous.

 

[SCraig]

Nobody else has said anything, but I like the cockatoo close up, probably because I would never think of it myself, and as every one has said the lynx is gorgeous.

Thanks, Baturn. I thought it was an interesting shot to, but I really wish I hadn't cropped it too tightly in camera. If it's clear this coming weekend I may go by there and try again.

 

[JacaRanda]

Wow, Scott. That first Lynx photo looks as if you had a portrait session out of a studio. Fantastic!!!! Rush that one to the printer asap.

 

[SCraig]

Wow, Scott. That first Lynx photo looks as if you had a portrait session out of a studio. Fantastic!!!! Rush that one to the printer asap.

Thanks! He did pose perfectly, didn't he? I can't take portraits worth a hoot so he must have done all the work 'cause I know I sure didn't

 

[astroNikon]

All the pics have great attributes, thanks for sharing

 

[SCraig]

All the pics have great attributes, thanks for sharing

Thank you for the comments! Much appreciated and I'm glad you enjoyed them.