Zoo trip

divamum

Went to the zoo last week where I took a zillion shots. Am trying to get braver about posting here (the quality is such :bowthat it's a bit intimidating for those of us just starting out!), and I was happy with some of these so.... ::gulp:: here goes! C&C welcomed.

Firstly, the sea lions. They were HILARIOUS, because it was so obvious what they were "saying" to each other. I particularly liike the 2nd picture - I did no PP except a little bit of contrast and sharpening.... I just got lucky with the light hitting the water.

1 Siesta time....


2 Then a dip to cool off...


3 "DON'T DRIP ON ME WHEN I'M ASLEEP!!!"


(I love the look on the black one's face like, "Huh? I only wanted to play, dude!" Shame I was in the wrong spot to grab all his face, but it still amuses me

This hippo took more pp work - I'm really only just getting started learning P&P so it's rather clumsy still, but I did like the water in this one, and the bubbles by her nose.
4



The biggest challenge with the pandas was the combo of fairly low light and the glass between us and him. The 50mm 1.8 was obviously better for light, but then I got reflections on the glass; the 55-250is (which took this one) had trouble focusing in the low light, but managed to see "Through" the reflections better. None of them are as pin sharp as I'd like, but there we have it..
5

6


7

dlplumer

Very nice set. I like 4 and 5 the best

Maestro

That panda is too cute!

divamum

Thanks! All technical comment welcomed, as that's where I know I fall down - I seem to be able to envisage and capture the "expressions" I want, but without technique to back it up and turn it into *reality*, it's all kind of for naught.

And yeah, the pandas are just amazing creatures - I love that one of him sleeping (i feel like there should be a big row of zzzzzz in a balloon over his head!) I've never seen a live one before, so it was WAY cool just to be that close, even through glass.

It turned out to be surprisingly hard to take the kinds of pix I wanted throughout the entire trip - the light outside was too contrasty in bright sun, but in the shaded areas and indoors was dark and muted, and, while I really love the sharpness of the Canon 55-250is, the autofocus hunts sometimes, particularly in less than perfect light or in confusing scenarios where it just didn't lock on fast enough. Also, since I was shooting at the long end of the lens, depth of field was often critical so in bad lighting I wound up having to choose between camera shake and/or a wide-open (ie soft) lens. And with moving targets, this unfortunately meant a lot of really REALLY bad shots ...

But goodness me i'm having fun with it all. I just want to learn how to get the camera to do what *I* want, instead of always being a slave to its computerised opinions ALthough I do use Tv and Av modes a lot, my next goal is to try and move on to manual, or at least to better understand what I'm doing and WHY

Giphsub

I like #2 & #3 Don't e hesitant about posting. That's how we all learn and get better!

Greggbert

Was this at the National Zoo in D.C. ? That place can be challenging. The glass in the Panda house can really be a P.I.A. because of the scratches and smudges.

Nice shots !

divamum

Greggbert wrote:

Was this at the National Zoo in D.C. ? That place can be challenging. The glass in the Panda house can really be a P.I.A. because of the scratches and smudges.

Nice shots !

Yep, sure was. We were blessed with magnificent weather, thankfully- about 80 degrees and low humidity! - but the lighting still presented a whole lotta challenges not least of which that glass (and I only now see that in #7 there's a whole FACE reflected right on his arm - I have no idea how i missed that before... whoops!)

Thanks for the props!!