Zoo pics for C&C

robertwsimpson · Sep 8, 2009

The sun was so bright, it was nearly impossible to get a decently even exposure, so I tried to use it to my advantage.

let me know what you think, good or bad!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

way more on my flickr page if you like these.

ocular · Sep 8, 2009

#1 I like, has character but to underexposed

#2 underexposed and overexposed doesn't work for me
#3 Even though the stick a bit of a bother I like this picture
#4 Cool, but it's comming from infinity ?
#5 what mood do you perceive in this pic ?
#6 cool but seems is too cropped, right eye looks closed, weird.

robertwsimpson · Sep 8, 2009

did you read the OP? lol

I think that 4 is my fave.

also, #6 is not cropped. that's the picture.

ocular · Sep 8, 2009

did you read the OP? lol

You asked for constructive criticism good or bad, then u make fun of me ? Gee thanks.

robertwsimpson · Sep 8, 2009

I did ask for constructive criticism. I prefaced the post by saying that the sun was super bright and it made even exposures nearly impossible. you told me that one of my pictures was over exposed and under exposed. I thought it was funny, since clearly, I already knew that. don't get so butt hurt. It's only the internet.

thanks for your tips all the same!

bigtwinky · Sep 8, 2009

1- I like the intent of the image, like looking in from the tiger's den. But I find part of his head blurry and the brokeh isn't too nice, kinda wavey. Bottom left of the image are a couple of sticks that are out of place.
I do like the light on his orange fur though. Seeing more of that would of been nice, and even seeing only that would of been nice.

2- Interesting play, but the overexposed is blown out, which kind of cuts the image...my eye didn't follow straight to head and was just looking around the top of the image.

3- I don't like the branch in this one, but nice job on the sharpness and the bird's face

4- I like this one alot, best of the bunch. Great use of the light to nicely frame the subject. Vertical lines, sharpness... nice job

5- similar to 1 in that I find the fur on the head blurry and makes it distracting. I find when doing silouhettes, that you need sharpness to nicely pull it off (usually). As for composition, I like it. He is a bit low on the image, I would of liked to see a bit more sky or whatnot under the branch he is sitting on, but nice overall.

6- I don't like the fence and his right eye being shut. Seems that the focus is more on his nose than the eye though.

itznfb · Sep 8, 2009

And it matters if you preface it with the lighting conditions were difficult? C'mon now.
90% of the time you're going to be dealing with horrendous lighting at the zoo. That's why the zoo is such a great place to practice. You're either going to have low light conditions with moving subjects or dark/bright areas combined and you're going to have to deal with a difficult exposure. It's not nearly impossible to get an even exposure. It just take practice.

You're first shot is a perfect example. I'm not really sure what you were going for in that shot but you could have easily achieved an even exposure with some fill flash or dynamic lighting control if your camera has it.

robertwsimpson · Sep 8, 2009

well just so that you guys know where I was going...

1. I wanted this one to be a little under-exposed so that it was a little silhouette ish... also, the waviness is due to the fact that he was behind a fence. the fence is way out of focus, thus the waves. I guess it didn't work as well as I had intended.

2. I accidentally over-exposed this with the camera, and I did as much as I could to pull the highlights back in. I really liked what was going on with the water, and the subject wasn't too bad off I thought. I guess I was wrong.

3. the bird was above me, standing on that branch... there was no way to get a good picture, because if you move, the birds fly away. After looking at it, I started not minding the branch, so I kept it.

4. my favorite picture of the bunch. I don't know how this one could be better.

5. I wish the fur was sharper, but I had to crop this one to make it look right. there were some lit up limbs underneath the branch he is on that I had to crop out. since the photo is so cropped, I think I lost some sharpness.

6. it's a zoo. there are unfortunately fences in front of all the animals. I thought it was a cute picture, so I kept it. I think you're right though, the focus might be on his nose. I can't wait to have a camera that I can turn the ISO up on without ruining pictures. for night now, I have to use really low aperture settings.

robertwsimpson · Sep 8, 2009

yeah that tiger was super far away, so my on camera flash (the only one I have) wasn't going to cut it.

not getting defensive, just sayin...

the zoo was like the hardest place I've tried to photograph yet. definitely good practice. clearly, I need some more.

itznfb · Sep 8, 2009

A good flash can be useful. However, I don't like even taking a flash to the zoo since it irritates most animals. Luckily for the last year or so I've been shooting with the D90 and now the D300s which both have amazing ADR capabilities that can basically reproduce the effect of a fill flash.

And yea, as I said. You'll deal with almost every type of difficult shooting situation at the zoo so it's a great place to get practice.

robertwsimpson · Sep 8, 2009

seriously, it was like every single photo was blowing out the white stuff and killing the dark stuff completely. it would have been nice to be able to take multiple exposures, but I knew that wasn't happening with everything moving around so much. a cloudy day would have been nicer. oh well, it was still fun, and it definitely worked on my patience, since I had to wait for each animal to be in the exact right spot before I could snap a pic.