Zoo Pics

[Allizdog89]

1st of all hello to all this is my first post here and its a great website so far that I have seen.

Ive always loved photography, but this is the 1st time Ive used a real camera, (My grandpa's D90 Nikon DSLR) and knew what to do with it. I went to the local zoo and took some pictures and would like some feedback, harsh if needed.

 

[itznfb]

The first one with the gorillas could have been exposed better by shooting in RAW and adjusting ADL to it's highest setting, shoot a couple stops fast and adjust with exposure compensation. It's a tough shot.

The second shot of the leopard would have been better if you didn't cut part of his butt off.

The flamingo is a bit cluttered and could also benefit from some ADL adjustment and shadow protection.

The last one obviously has some nasty glare.

Good start.

 

[Allizdog89]

I did shoot in RAW. What is ADL and is "Shadow Protection" a function in photoshop? I have CS3

And for the 2 birds with the glare, I thought other than that glare it was a good photo and posted it to see if there was a way to rectify that? Probably not though.

Thanks for taking the time to make advice as well =)

 

[icassell]

Sometimes a circular polarizer will get rid of a lot of that glass glare. Shooting through glass at the zoo is really tough.

 

[EricD]

Nicely done for your first time! Personally I find all of them pretty nice except for the last two. Shoot in manual focus when shooting thru glass.


Eric

 

[Allizdog89]

Actually all of those pictures were taken in manual focus. The one of the two birds was not shot through glass. I dont know why the glare came up. It might have been a cage wire.

And thats a good idea with the polarized filter. I used to work with glasses and polarized lenses DO remove glare from glass, so I guess it would work the same with cameras.

Thanks again to everyone

 

[itznfb]

ADL is Active D-Lighting. Explanation here.

Shadow Protection is a feature enabled in CaptureNX2 on RAW files. It's under develop > quick fix. It might actually be a setting on all files not just RAW.

A lot of people successfully use circular polarizer to reduce/eliminate glare but I always found using some type of shade to work best. I use either a black piece of cardboard or a black foam insert from one of my bags.

Sometimes you can play with exposure and contrast in PS or CNX2 to get rid of glare but it's tough when you have a line through the middle like that.