Jaguar

SCraig · Jul 5, 2012

I visited the Chattanooga Zoo today and they have a gorgeous pair of Jaguars. It was very hot, even at mid-morning, and they were not in much of a mood to move around. One of them was back in the bushes where I could barely see her, and the other was draped across a large rock. I had to shoot through a rather dirty sheet of double-pane glass so the shots aren't quite as sharp as I'd have liked but it's still easy to see what a beautiful cat this guy is.

WesternGuy · Jul 6, 2012

Nice shots of a magnificent creature. You managed to get the eyes in all three, an important aspect in wildlife photography, at least for me it is.
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WesterrnGuy

JoshuaSimPhotography · Jul 6, 2012

Number 2 I don't think you should have put the cage in, you want the animal to look free, even though it isn't

but it depends on what you're trying to tell

SCraig · Jul 6, 2012

WesternGuy said:
Nice shots of a magnificent creature. You managed to get the eyes in all three, an important aspect in wildlife photography, at least for me it is.

Yep, I agree. Both that he is magnificent and that the eyes are important. The eyes are the windows to the soul and I always do my best to get the eyes sharp even if everything else goes to heck

He was sleepy but would raise his head up and look around every few minutes. I hung around that area about 30 minutes or so and each time he raised his head I'd shoot a string.

JoshuaSimPhotography said:
Number 2 I don't think you should have put the cage in, you want the animal to look free, even though it isn't but it depends on what you're trying to tell

Granted the shot would have been better without the fence but I didn't PUT the fence there, it was just there and there was nothing I could do about it. I was as close as I could get (my sunshade was literally against the glass trying to cut down the reflections), I was shooting at maximum aperture (f/4.5), he was on the rock, and the fence was behind him. To get the entire cat in the shot I needed 90mm and at that short focal length the fence came into partial focus. The others are at 200mm and over so the fence was out of focus. When shooting at a zoo I take what I can get and sometimes it isn't exactly what I want or what would be the best shot, but there are no other choices.

cgipson1 · Jul 6, 2012

Nice shots and a gorgeous animal, Scott!

FireDiva · Jul 6, 2012

#3 is stunning, you caught the typical cat stare, beautiful, I would buy that shot!

SCraig · Jul 6, 2012

cgipson1 said:
Nice shots and a gorgeous animal, Scott!

Thanks, Charlie. I agree about the gorgeous animal but the shots aren't all that great.

FireDiva said:
#3 is stunning, you caught the typical cat stare, beautiful, I would buy that shot!

Thanks, I think that was #3 in a series of 6 or 7 shots. He started out looking slightly to his left and as he turned his head I held the shutter down. I think this was about the 3rd in the series. Looking at it now the background looks a little washed out to me. I may revisit the contrast some, it doesn't look right to me.

The shot isn't for sale but I'll be glad to give you a copy of it

LizardKing · Jul 6, 2012

Magnificent animal... You did pretty well capturing it, specially #1

SCraig · Jul 6, 2012

LizardKing said:
Magnificent animal... You did pretty well capturing it, specially #1

Thanks! I agree that he is a magnificent cat, not so much that I captured him that well. I like the poses but the window I was shooting through was causing all kinds of problems. Glad you like it though.

FireDiva · Jul 6, 2012

Cats are so interesting , they can take you or leave you....I'd be pleased to have a copy....your work is beautiful.

SCraig · Jul 6, 2012

FireDiva said:
Cats are so interesting , they can take you or leave you....I'd be pleased to have a copy....your work is beautiful.

I agree, and thank you very much. I have two cats here that mean more to me than anything else in the world. They can put more expression into just the crinkle of an eye or the raising of a lip than most people can with an unlimited vocabulary.

Give me a little while, I want to look at that background a little bit. I'll put a copy on my web site somewhere and PM you a link to it.

SCraig · Jul 6, 2012

Minor edit to #3 - I darkened the background and increased the contrast some to separate the subject from the background better. I also cropped it differently to eliminate the big light blob in the upper right corner.

Do you guys think this is an improvement or not?