Beautiful day at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo

inTempus · Mar 5, 2009

I met up with DemonAstroth here from TPF for a quick jaunt over to Lincoln Park Zoo today. I had to sneek out of the office... playing hookie... oops!

It was 61 degrees today, overcast and windy... but a really great day to be out and about. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to shoot. The primary goal of our outing today was to let DemonAstroth try out my 17-40 f/4 Canon lens on his camera.

Here's a shot of a happy couple walking from the zoo. It just feels like spring is in the air!

For the Canon forums they demand you post a picture of a duck when you get a new camera. So I found this little guy to satisfy that requirement. Nothing special, just a duck.

This little guy looked like he was enjoying the break from the harsh weather.

DemonAstroth · Mar 7, 2009

No replies, I guess I"ll post my versions of the pics.

It was indeed a fun though rushed time. I really appreciate you letting me try the 17-40mm. I feel it is wide enough for my needs, as the skyline picture shows. So now I'll be looking for one.

I guess our subjects were pretty much the same. I hope the weather turns better, I definitely missed taking shots outdoors.

inTempus · Mar 7, 2009

Great shots man.

Hey, I didn't sign a model release form!

Here's a couple more.

I wish these little guys would have given us some better shots. Most of the time they stood with their backs to us.

I guess they are camera shy.

Another shot of a different squirrel, they certainly were out in force that day.

These girls were funny. How many times did they attempt to get this shot? It always seemed one of them was out of sync...

LaFoto · Mar 7, 2009

Hey, a little TPF meet-up. Always makes me happy to hear about one!
Where all of these photos (yours and Demon's) taken with that 17-40mm lens? If so, I must say it produces a nice bokeh. It strikes me as nicest in the "Couple-in-Spring"-photo (first).

Who were those girls in the last posing/jumping for? That one's sooo funny! And you really captured the moment! Cool!

And you now have a photo you can submit to the "Me and My Camera" thread in the Photo Themes!

Thanks, Demon!

inTempus · Mar 7, 2009

LaFoto said:
Hey, a little TPF meet-up. Always makes me happy to hear about one!

Where all of these photos (yours and Demon's) taken with that 17-40mm lens? If so, I must say it produces a nice bokeh. It strikes me as nicest in the "Couple-in-Spring"-photo (first).

It was impromptu, really short notice but fun. DemonAstroth had the 17-40 on his camera in the beginning (barn/building shots). We then both switched to our 70-200's for the animal shots as they were some distance from us.

I think he really liked the 17-40, we talked about meeting up again perhaps this coming week to head back over to the Zoo for some more pics. If anyone else is in Chicago and would like to join us, you're more than welcome to!

Who were those girls in the last posing/jumping for? That one's sooo funny! And you really captured the moment! Cool!

Thanks.

They were standing on the bridge leading to the Zoo. They had another girlfriend standing out of view with a P&S camera trying to get a shot of all of them in the air in front of the city skyline (see Damon's 3rd shot). I swear, they tried this shot at least 10 times while we watched and were still trying it while we were leaving.

And you now have a photo you can submit to the "Me and My Camera" thread in the Photo Themes! Thanks, Demon!

Thanks again. I agree, that one really jumped out at me both when I saw the scene before shooting and after I got back to my PC and looked at it. I am very pleased with it. When I look at it I can feel the moment all over again... smell the air, feel the breeze... I thought perhaps it was just because I shot the pic and was there, so it's great to know someone else gets something from the shot besides me.

Early · Mar 7, 2009

tharmsen said:
Here's a shot of a happy couple walking from the zoo. It just feels like spring is in the air!

It's truly a man's world. The poor girl's freezing her bippies off (whatever they are), while the guy's all bundled up in a hood.

inTempus · Mar 7, 2009

Early said:
It's truly a man's world. The poor girl's freezing her bippies off (whatever they are), while the guy's all bundled up in a hood.

LOL

It was 55+ degrees out, just windy. It wasn't too cold really. I saw the mini-shorts with the high-heel fuzzy boots and thought "nice".

Antarctican · Mar 7, 2009

Like Lafoto said, it's always cool to hear of TPF members meeting up. Looks like you had fun and got some nice shots.

Samanax · Mar 7, 2009

tharmsen - most of your pictures look slightly overexposed to me. They could use a little more contrast and maybe a touch more saturation.

You might want to give the first technique in this link a try...nice way to increase contrast and make your pictures stand out a little more.

SlimPaul · Mar 7, 2009

Really nice dof in the first shot. And the squirrel is pretty interesting too

Susan1114 · Mar 7, 2009

Nice Boots... I want those!!! Great pictures too. I wish I had the guts to get together with another TPF. But I'm not sure who is even close to Denver.

I'm glad you guys had a great day with cooperative weather.

inTempus · Mar 7, 2009

Samanax said:
tharmsen - most of your pictures look slightly overexposed to me. They could use a little more contrast and maybe a touch more saturation.

You might want to give the first technique in this link a try...nice way to increase contrast and make your pictures stand out a little more.

I need to buy a monitor calibration kit because they look well saturated and exposed to me. They've all been tinkered with in Lightroom. I guess that's the next thing I need to do.

inTempus · Mar 7, 2009

Samanax said:
tharmsen - most of your pictures look slightly overexposed to me. They could use a little more contrast and maybe a touch more saturation.

Ok, check out the couple pic again. How does that look? I reduced the exposure a touch (I had increased it because it looked good on my monitor) and I bumped up the contrast a little along with the saturation.

Thanks man.

inTempus · Mar 9, 2009

Samanax said:
tharmsen - most of your pictures look slightly overexposed to me. They could use a little more contrast and maybe a touch more saturation.

You might want to give the first technique in this link a try...nice way to increase contrast and make your pictures stand out a little more.

You always have the cool links. I just caught this. Thanks for posting it.