Few From The Zoo

SCraig · Jun 1, 2013

Since there have been a number of other posts from people going to their local zoo I figured I would to.

Note: My web site has been acting goofy lately and my hosting service is looking into it. It tends to be there most of the time, and then disappears for a little while. If the images don't show up they should be back in a few minutes.

#1 -Hyacinth Macaw - This guy looks like he (or she!) is getting old.

#2 - Gator's view of the Gator pit

#3 -Red Panda - Hot! Soooooooo HOT!

#4 -Red Panda - Hi! - I know, his ear is blown out. Bright sunlight and a dark, back-lit subject will do that sometimes.

#5 -Caribbean Flamingo - Orange Redux. I did one Very Similar To This and thought I'd give it a second try. I don't think this is as good as the first but I still like it.

Overread · Jun 1, 2013

Ignoring the few hotspots and rocks I really do like that Gator shot - neat way to work with the very still reptiles and water!

The last shot is a very "done" look but very well done at that - great shot and probably the strongest of the bunch!

SCraig · Jun 1, 2013

Overread said:
Ignoring the few hotspots and rocks I really do like that Gator shot - neat way to work with the very still reptiles and water!

The last shot is a very "done" look but very well done at that - great shot and probably the strongest of the bunch!

Thanks, Overread. I've been trying to get that gator shot for a long time but it's a difficult shot. When there is no sunlight the water is very dark below and just looks like a dark bar across the bottom. When there is sunlight those rocks blow out. This is as close as I've gotten, and I did a 5-frame tone map from the original to get this close. The rocks are just plain gone and there's nothing there.

DarkShadow · Jun 1, 2013

Nice pix.The red panda has a cute face but something tells me don"t try to pet him.

Overread · Jun 1, 2013

If you've the tripod to get the slow shot for the blurry water I'd just go full out and do a full HDR shot - risky, but since the main blowout is the rocks they won't move anywhere.

DNK · Jun 1, 2013

Really like the variety you have here and 4 being my favorite. Something about that face on the Red Panda, nice job Scott.

SCraig · Jun 1, 2013

DarkShadow said:
Nice pix.The red panda has a cute face but something tells me don"t try to pet him.

They are vegetarians. You would probably be safe. Go ahead and try, and if something happens I promise I'll get photos of it

Overread said:
If you've the tripod to get the slow shot for the blurry water I'd just go full out and do a full HDR shot - risky, but since the main blowout is the rocks they won't move anywhere.

Tried it

My tripod isn't tall enough. I was on tiptoes to get that shot.

The gator pit has a glass wall on one end, obviously, which is where I took the shot. There is one concrete step about 18" wide and 7" tall the whole width of the wall. It's too narrow for all three legs of my tripod so I have to shorten two of them about 7" and put the third on the ground. Even with the center column all the way up I couldn't get to the surface of the water. It's kind of hard to explain, but the bottom line is that my tripod is a good 18" too short.

Edit ...

OK, Overread, how 'bout this. I turned the blown out tops of the rocks into non blown out sides of rocks

Does it work?

SCraig · Jun 1, 2013

DNK said:
Really like the variety you have here and 4 being my favorite. Something about that face on the Red Panda, nice job Scott.

Thanks! For some reason they took them off display for a long time, close to a year, and then put them back last fall. They are very photogenic and have some interesting facial expressions. I've got a good shot of one of them sticking his tongue out at me. I'll see if I can find it and stick a link to it here.

Edit ....

cenote · Jun 2, 2013

Love #3

Overread · Jun 2, 2013

The revised gator shot looks great! What did you do? At first I thought it was the clone/heal tool but it seems that the reflection in the water is also reduced as well and some areas of the the gators back - did you hunt down more exposure or is it a combo of replacing missing detail and toning down the shots?

SCraig · Jun 2, 2013

Overread said:
The revised gator shot looks great! What did you do? At first I thought it was the clone/heal tool but it seems that the reflection in the water is also reduced as well and some areas of the the gators back - did you hunt down more exposure or is it a combo of replacing missing detail and toning down the shots?

Thanks

For the rock on the right I cloned the top of the great big rock on the left side. For the rock on the left I cloned the left edge of it over and over to keep it from becoming a regular pattern. I did burn in the reflections of both rocks as well as the back of the gator in between the rocks. The gator because it had some hot spots and the reflections since without the light rocks the reflections wouldn't be as bright.