| Author | Thread |
|
|
08/06/2004 04:00:11 AM · #1 |
After seeing the terrific work people have been able to pull out of zoos, I bolted up to the modest little Central Florida Zoological Park a few days ago to give it a go. I haven't really been to a zoo since I was a kid, so shooting in a zoo was a very new experience. Bars, wires, glass... Things in the way. Oh yes, and very loud children. Still, it was fun and I got a couple of shots I like. But, I'd like to get some opinions on what you think - - - !
East African green mamba.
Eyelash viper.
Cotton-top tamarin.
Shooting the snakes was remarkably difficult with the glass, reflections, and lighting. That's about as good as I could get with what I had on hand. The tamarin seems like a nice shot, but the lighting seems a bit off.
Anywhoo, looking forward to some words and cricism! Thanks for the motivation to hit the zoo and take a swing. It was a fun little trip!
-bacchus
|
|
|
|
08/06/2004 04:46:49 AM · #2 |
| I really like the 'East African green mamba' .. I tend to enjoy photos that leave me wondering, and in this case I'm wondering what the beady eyed little fella is heading towards - a little mouse scurrying around, the waterbowl etc! The focus on the snake seems sharp enough too - good choice of DOF methinks - nice to have both foreground and background elements out of focus. Good use of thirds too!! |
|
|
|
08/06/2004 05:11:23 AM · #3 |
Thanks danrm! It took me about twelve shots to get that one. It was the best I could muster. By the time I had gotten my settings to where the light was tolerable, the snake was in the perfect position. A level of success through a process of failure!
|
|
|
|
08/06/2004 07:15:14 AM · #4 |
I like the first snake - it has good lighting, the foreground/background elements almost mimic the snake's head and adds to the composition. The angle of the snake's head is unusual and that's mostly where the interest is. The focus, color, lighting, and sharpness of the head (that I can see) is good. Even if that was your only good shot from the trip I would say it was worth it.
The second snake isnt bad but I find the very dark left side and the fairly bright right side to clash a little. Not to say the lighting should be even but the eye is generally drawn to the lighter area of an image and that is the area in this shot where the snake isnt. A curve adjustment to balance the dark/light a little may improve on it. I like the shape the bottom of his tail makes, but the image is a little small to see if there is a lot of texture present.
I like the tamarin and glad you decided to use the fence. A lot of people say zoo photography should mostly aim for shots that look like they are in the wild but I find using fences like this can be very effective. Have you tried playing in curves to remove some of the background? It's not overly distracting but having it blacker back there can really isolate him better. It's a tad overexposed on the chest, but nothing too serious. Have you tried it in black and white? Emotional images like this tend to do really in b&w.
|
|
|
|
08/06/2004 07:27:16 AM · #5 |
I agree, the tamarin would look great in B&W or even better a nice duotone.
|
|
|
|
08/06/2004 09:16:23 AM · #6 |
Moodville, Airatic - thank you for the comments. I'm not very knowledgable on post-editing images. Most of my graphics work is for simple web-based applications - not so much on touching up photographs. I did kick the tamarin pic to b/w:
I do like this in black and white, but not sure how to blend out more of the background. Any recommendations?
On the viper, I do wish I had been able to get better light with that snake. I love the pose, but the light was just horrible. I'll hang on to it until I get a bit more advanced with imaging software!
-bacchus.
Message edited by author 2004-08-06 13:17:09.
|
|
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 04/09/2025 11:37:08 AM EDT.
