Some Photos I shot at the Philadelphia Zoo...

[DevC]

My grip was sore from holding the monopod all day. Well worth it...love seeing animals!

Duck 02 by Dev.Chatterjee, on Flickr
Zebra 01 by Dev.Chatterjee, on Flickr
Giraffe 02 by Dev.Chatterjee, on Flickr
Tiger 01 by Dev.Chatterjee, on Flickr
Bird 02 by Dev.Chatterjee, on Flickr

 

[robbins.photo]

Love the tigers facial expression. Very nice set

 

[IzzieK]

Very nice shots DebC...I love the duck best. The comp is OK...The donkey, ooopsss! zebra has some overexposed portions behind him and at the left side; the giraffe's shot is the same, some parts are overexposed and you cut part of its head (horn); the tiger's expression and exposure is OK but cropped too tight; and the last bird, whatever that is, is OK...Watch your blinkies each time you take your shots...

Am I supposed to critique these? I am sorry if you did not ask for it and I did...

 

[pjaye]

I'm loving the tiger picture. Great expression.

As for the blown spots, that's going to happen. Especially shooting outdoors in a zoo. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Almost every picture I take shows "blinkies" on camera.

 

[DevC]

Love the tigers facial expression. Very nice set

Thanks! Since you seem to be a zoo photographer yourself too, got any good tips to improve the experience of shooting in a zoo? I love your photos btw.

Very nice shots DebC...I love the duck best. The comp is OK...The donkey, ooopsss! zebra has some overexposed portions behind him and at the left side; the giraffe's shot is the same, some parts are overexposed and you cut part of its head (horn); the tiger's expression and exposure is OK but cropped too tight; and the last bird, whatever that is, is OK...Watch your blinkies each time you take your shots...

Am I supposed to critique these? I am sorry if you did not ask for it and I did...

Thanks. Always appreciate critique .
You are correct about the overexposure...was considering some burning in PS .
The tiger was a tough bugger himself. It was shot behind glass for safety, and tons of people left marks on the glass making it vile to touch...Would love to get in the cage with the tiger, but i'm sure i'd be too scared to be that close lol.
Heres another shot of the giraffe...this time it's tasting some leaves._DSC0399 by Dev.Chatterjee, on Flickr

 

[robbins.photo]

Love the tigers facial expression. Very nice set

Thanks! Since you seem to be a zoo photographer yourself too, got any good tips to improve the experience of shooting in a zoo? I love your photos btw.

Very nice shots DebC...I love the duck best. The comp is OK...The donkey, ooopsss! zebra has some overexposed portions behind him and at the left side; the giraffe's shot is the same, some parts are overexposed and you cut part of its head (horn); the tiger's expression and exposure is OK but cropped too tight; and the last bird, whatever that is, is OK...Watch your blinkies each time you take your shots...

Am I supposed to critique these? I am sorry if you did not ask for it and I did...

Thanks. Always appreciate critique .
You are correct about the overexposure...was considering some burning in PS .
The tiger was a tough bugger himself. It was shot behind glass for safety, and tons of people left marks on the glass making it vile to touch...Would love to get in the cage with the tiger, but i'm sure i'd be too scared to be that close lol.
Heres another shot of the giraffe...this time it's tasting some leaves._DSC0399 by Dev.Chatterjee, on Flickr

Love the 2nd giraffe shot. Quick tip, notice how dark the eye is? Pretty common for a zoo shot, the animals eyes are almost always shaded and it's not like you can setup reflectors or use fill flash - so one way to correct in photoshop is to load the original image, use the selection tool and mark a small area around the eye - then copy that to a new layer. Switch to the new layer, then use the shadow/highlight tool and reduce the amount of shadows until the eye looks about right, if you need too you can then use the eraser tool to get rid of anything you copied around the eye that doesn't quite fit with the original layer because of it's reduced shadow.

I find the technique works particularly well for gorillas, since they have such heavy brows and as a result their eyes are often difficult to see in the original photograph, but I've used it on other critters as well with pretty good success.

All in all though looks like your off to a great start.

Oh, on the outdoor shots one thing to consider is a CPL - Circular Polarizing Filter - it will help reduce the amount of light coming into the lens and will usually prevent the highlights from being blown out.

 

[baturn]

Very nice! What could be improved and how has been well covered. I would like to know what that last bird is. please?

 

[DevC]

Love the 2nd giraffe shot. Quick tip, notice how dark the eye is? Pretty common for a zoo shot, the animals eyes are almost always shaded and it's not like you can setup reflectors or use fill flash - so one way to correct in photoshop is to load the original image, use the selection tool and mark a small area around the eye - then copy that to a new layer. Switch to the new layer, then use the shadow/highlight tool and reduce the amount of shadows until the eye looks about right, if you need too you can then use the eraser tool to get rid of anything you copied around the eye that doesn't quite fit with the original layer because of it's reduced shadow.

I find the technique works particularly well for gorillas, since they have such heavy brows and as a result their eyes are often difficult to see in the original photograph, but I've used it on other critters as well with pretty good success.

All in all though looks like your off to a great start.

Oh, on the outdoor shots one thing to consider is a CPL - Circular Polarizing Filter - it will help reduce the amount of light coming into the lens and will usually prevent the highlights from being blown out.

Thanks for the tips. I think I will try this on my next zoo expidition (will be going to a smaller local one, then maybe the smithsonian in D.C)
I 'll invest in a CPL. Do you notice if this has a big effect on your shutter speeds in certain locations? I've had a bit of that issue in certain parts of the zoo where the lighting changed dramatically and i had to adjust the shutter speed fast accordingly.

Very nice! What could be improved and how has been well covered. I would like to know what that last bird is. please?

Thanks! It's called a hammerkop:Hamerkop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm loving the tiger picture. Great expression.

As for the blown spots, that's going to happen. Especially shooting outdoors in a zoo. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Almost every picture I take shows "blinkies" on camera.

It's difficult as i've felt.
Thanks for the views!