Any thoughts on the little fellow?

printergirl

Okay, this is my first picture post. I'm a newbie here, but I am here to learn, so I will try to put on my "thicker skin." LOL. Would appreciate any C&C. I couldn't resist this one, because this little fellow came up behind the tree at the reptile house in the zoo to see what I was doing. He seemed almost curious and was watching me. Everyone I show this picture to loves it, but something about it bothers me. I think it's the way his "snout" is blown out. I was shooting behind glass, so I imagine that is due to the on-camera flash that fired off. Any thoughts on how I could have gotten a better shot, with him behind a glass cage and me on the other side?

bfjr

1st welcome
glad you've come to play

I'm not very experienced at shootin thru glass, but someone will be
by to advise you here.

I'm not bothered by the snout.
What drags me away from the subject is that tree he/she is on
Maybe try a tighter crop from the right only. JMHO

Jack'll do

Welcome to dgrin Nora. I'm sure you will enjot it here and, like all of us, learn a lot from the many very talented photographers on dgrin. Be sure to check out all the tutorials available. This image is nice. I like the colors and muted background but as you note the bright spot is a little distracting.

What camera and lens were you using?

edit: Ben makes a good point about a tighter crop.

printergirl

Aha, I do see where a tighter cropping, eliminating more of the tree, would help some.

I was using a Nikon D40, with 55-200 lens, and the standard on camera flash, which did fire. The reptile house was dark and cold and this little critter was behind glass.

I can see the reflection of the glass slightly in the background if i look closely, but I think that may be way caused the washed out snout as well.

jax

It's a nice capture!!

I would remove the shadow, blur the background a little, do a little dodging and burning and reframe it some. So it looks like this:

maybe.jpg

Far from perfect, but you get the idea...

dlplumer

Welcome PG:D Cute little bugger you captured, and others have coached you well. This is such a good place to learn and get better.

Dan

bfjr

jax wrote:

It's a nice capture!!

I would remove the shadow, blur the background a little, do a little dodging and burning and reframe it some. So it looks like this:

maybe.jpg

Far from perfect, but you get the idea...

that is a GOOD SAVE !!

printergirl

jax wrote:

It's a nice capture!!

I would remove the shadow, blur the background a little, do a little dodging and burning and reframe it some. So it looks like this:

maybe.jpg

Far from perfect, but you get the idea...

Wow! That is awesome. Amazing what a difference some photoshopping can do. I was just using it as shot. Need to brush up on my photoshopping skills it looks like.

printergirl

dlplumer wrote:

Welcome PG:D Cute little bugger you captured, and others have coached you well. This is such a good place to learn and get better.

I have gained so much knowledge and INSPIRATION already by lurking here for a while. I hope to participate more.

Gale

Welcome. Glad to have another gal aboard

Nice shot. Good through glass. Not sure you could have shot him any better,
PS does a good job...to help ya out

raptorcaptor

Having shot through glass you did very well! Tighter crop is good advice!

If you are not shooting through glass use a larger aperture setting to try and blur the bkg a bit more. (Looks better than doing it in post)