Zoo with Daughter ... C&C welcome

jedirunner · Apr 14, 2013

Took the 7 year old to the zoo yesterday. *VERY* overcast day, and lightly sprinkling off and on most of the day.

I'm not yet comfortable with LightRoom (will be learning it as I just downloaded it a couple days ago), so I used my normal flow of importing the RAW files to ipad, and using PhotoGene to crop them (and rarely to actually touch some other setting).

I'm kind of excited to go to the zoo on a day I don't have to shoot at such high ISO.

Here are a few of the pics. C&C welcome and requested.

1.Golden Tamarin (300mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 12800)

2. Young Giraffe (300mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 1250)

3. Elephant (300mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 2000)

4. Harbor Seal (300mm, f/5.6, 1/500, ISO 2000)

5. Very wild animal ... and a Giraffe in the background. (72mm, f/4.5, 1/500, ISO 500)

Kevin

The_Traveler · Apr 14, 2013

1,2,3 & 5 are just pictures that your camera took after you pressed the button.

#4 could be something interesting because of the unexpected angle, the giraffe intent on the camera, etc - but you have to learn how to manage and edit pictures in LR or something to get the most out of it.

Rick50 · Apr 14, 2013

#1 is good but if you had just moved a little to the left so the tree wasn't there.

Rafterman · Apr 14, 2013

#2 would be awesome if you could have separated the giraffe from the background a bit more. The rock wall must not have been very far behind him. Ditto with the elephant. The Tamarin needs a bit more lighting in the foreground. I like the harbor seal shot though. :thumbsup:

cenote · Apr 14, 2013

I really like #1, and your guest in #5 is cute and has a great smile

I could see a slight crop in #5 and a little adjustment of light and would be great shot in my eyes.

I tweaked it a bit, using a generic program, trust me I am a amateur and don't own LR yet.

jedirunner · Apr 14, 2013

The_Traveler said:
1,2,3 & 5 are just pictures that your camera took after you pressed the button.

#4 could be something interesting because of the unexpected angle, the giraffe intent on the camera, etc - but you have to learn how to manage and edit pictures in LR or something to get the most out of it.

I agree. The more I look at them, and look through the various forums and comments, the more I realize I really really need to learn how to post process. Of course, it's only one piece, and I also need to get better compositions as a whole.

Rick50 said:
#1 is good but if you had just moved a little to the left so the tree wasn't there.

Yes.

One day I'll pay more attention to the photo rather than just the subject. This isn't the first time that I see distractions that I didn't look for when taking the photos. Another zoo trip is scheduled in a couple weeks. Will pay more attention then.

Rafterman said:
#2 would be awesome if you could have separated the giraffe from the background a bit more. The rock wall must not have been very far behind him. Ditto with the elephant. The Tamarin needs a bit more lighting in the foreground. I like the harbor seal shot though. :thumbsup:

I downloaded photoshop trial version and tried (very brutish) selection around the giraffe to separate him from the background, with multiple layers so I could adjust the giraffe separately from the background. Is this what you would do? or would you use more selective refinements in LightRoom?

I can see that once I actually learn how to use these tools, it will give advantages to what can come out of my photos.

cenote said:
I really like #1, and your guest in #5 is cute and has a great smile I could see a slight crop in #5 and a little adjustment of light and would be great shot in my eyes.

I tweaked it a bit, using a generic program, trust me I am a amateur and don't own LR yet.

View attachment 42280

Yep, that's Ashley, my 7 year old. And yes, she's quite a cutie. I like your edit and suggestions.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'm adding post-processing tools to my list of things to learn and add in to some sort of work flow. And I'll need to pay more attention to composition and interesting subjects.

Thanks,

Kevin