Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia

jackfrost · Mar 27, 2006

When I was visiting family in Columbia, my wife, my mom and my niece and I took a trip to the Riverbanks zoo. Its a very nice zoo, and I took the opportunity to try out my new Tamron 75-300 lens.

There's about 200 pictures here:
http://www.digitallights.com/dave/zoo

I'm just looking for some critique in general - what I need to work on.

thanks!

jackfrost · Mar 27, 2006

heh... i was just looking through them, and it appears I need to work on focusing. I mainly use the AF, and sometimes it just picks random things to focus on.

Antarctican · Mar 27, 2006

Looks like it was a fun day. The opening shot of the vivid pink flamingoes is very striking.

nymtber · Mar 27, 2006

i like the ring-tailed lemurs the best

odd little animals that they are.

your focus issues may not be the camera, or the lens, but the person behind it. 300mm is kinda tricky to hold off hand unless your shutter speeds are pretty quick. id suggest a tripod maybe...
also, i dont know the camera your using, but if you can select the focusing point manually, DO IT. i almost always use my center focusing square on my rebel G, and then recompose my shot. once in a while off the tripod i use one of the other ones, but i rarely use auto-select. some of your pics of your neice look to be cause out of focus by this...just an idea

i have the same lens, and with my 1 roll of film so far, it does much better off a tripod, but most of my pictures were taken in bright sun light so my shutter speeds were pretty fast, and my offhand shots wernt too bad. another trick is to focus on an object, and if its not moving anytime soon, switch to manual focus and take the shot. works better off a tripod, but guarantees the lens focusing dosnt hunt any.

i like your pictures though, looks like you had fun!!! i dont think they are too bad either, probably better than i could do, without a tripod that is

Rob · Mar 28, 2006

You've got some really good ones there, perhaps you could pick a handful of the best ones and post directly so everyone has a chance to comment on the best ones.

Rob

jackfrost · Mar 28, 2006

sorry, its a Rebel XT. the day was mostly sun or bright clouds, so speeds were pretty fast. i dont think speed was a cause for the blur.

here are some of my favorites:
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8. my favorite

9.

the lemurs were my favorite, too. have you seen Madagascar?

you guys aren't being very hard on me.

nymtber · Mar 28, 2006

nope, havnt seen madagascar...i just like lemurs, they are weird

im not being hard on ya cuz my pictures arnt too great either, most of mine are film/photographer based though lol. once i get some fuji reala 100 and my new camera, i should be good to go.

Those elephants came out GREAT! very crisp and colorful.

dont give up, you can shoot all the pics you want withour spending another penny

Might wanna try a circular polarizer? could help balance some of the color (just like sunglasses do for the eyes...good sunglasses that is).

jackfrost · Mar 29, 2006

yeah, i've got a polarizer on my kit lens, but the new lens is a 62mm diameter instead of 58mm, so i need to go pick up a bigger polarizer... :er:

LaFoto · Mar 29, 2006

Oh, I am quite, quite fond of the bear photo. He or she looks so cuddly there (I know they are not that really, but your photo makes it seem as if), and the elephants are really nice, too. Lemurs are funny. Everyone MUST like them. Have you been to Madagascar? If so, then: wow. I have not.

jackfrost · Mar 29, 2006

i havent been to madagascar. i was referring to the movie. very funny set of lemurs in the movie.

macawlvr · Mar 29, 2006

jackfrost said:
yeah, i've got a polarizer on my kit lens, but the new lens is a 62mm diameter instead of 58mm, so i need to go pick up a bigger polarizer... :er:

Just go get a step up screw on ring to fit your 58, that way you have to spend anything for a bigger poloarizer. The cost is way less...the brand I use is Tiffen

Chiller · Mar 29, 2006

Nice shootin Jack. Ya got some killer pics there.:thumbup: :thumbup:

Raymond J Barlow · Mar 29, 2006

cool website, and lots of great shots.

jackfrost · Mar 30, 2006

macawlvr said:
Just go get a step up screw on ring to fit your 58, that way you have to spend anything for a bigger poloarizer. The cost is way less...the brand I use is Tiffen

hmmm... didnt know those existed. the smaller polarizer won't create dark spots around the outside of the frame?

thanks for all the kind comments everyone. i'm just getting back into photography now that i have a nice camera, so I'm hoping to do a lot more this summer. i'll post some more shots as they come. :thumbup: