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Latest Outing

titchgamer
Posted 23/08/2009 - 22:27 Link
Ok taken these on my latest outing.

C+C Appreciated, I will say now though that all the reptiles (and few others) were taken through glass windows, Ive tried to reduce glare etc as much as poss, All un-edited except the odd crop and all taken with tammy 70-300mm Hand held (couldnt find the tri-pod :-s )

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Also took this, but i didnt realise my lens was steamed up because of the humidity

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And this just made me chuckle.....

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Lil Andy

K20D, PENTAX DA 18-55, TAMRON DI 70-300, PENTAX SMC-K 135 f2.5

www.ajohnson-photography.co.uk
scottthehat
Posted 24/08/2009 - 00:01 Link
nice shots , and what zoo, also if you use the hand dryer outside the warmer places that is supplied for people with glasses, that will stop the misting up, otherwise you might end up with a mouldy lens,
just keep snapping,

https://pentaxphotogallery.com/scottbenson

http://s727.photobucket.com/albums/ww272/scottthehat/


CAMERAS = k200d + battery grip.
nikon d300 + battery grip.
LENSES = tamron aspherical DII 18-200mm f3.5/6.3,
nikon 18-200mm afs vr f3.5/5.6 g dx
sigma 150-500mm apo dg hsm os
sigma 170-500mm apo dg
FLASH = samsung sef36pzf flash + more.
titchgamer
Posted 24/08/2009 - 15:23 Link
Thanks scott. It was chester zoo.
I didnt know about the dryer, just used my shirt!

Cumon guys, 50 plus views and only scott comenting? Whats going on? Lol
Lil Andy

K20D, PENTAX DA 18-55, TAMRON DI 70-300, PENTAX SMC-K 135 f2.5

www.ajohnson-photography.co.uk
RR
Posted 24/08/2009 - 16:00 Link
It may be due to the large amount of images in one post Andy.

My fave would be the sleepy warthog.
mikew
Posted 24/08/2009 - 16:04 Link
I find it quite hard to offer constructive comments on shots such as these and I don't much like shots of animals and birds anyway so I basically don't say nuffin' at all. Since you're asking I think they may have suffered from camera shake in some cases - surely you went with a small child you could terrorise into standing still and allowing you to rest the lens on their head?

I think the warthog (?) offered the best potential along with the lizard two down from that but I'd say you're too constrained by the access the zoo offers to get really creative here. It's just too difficult to move around and get better views to create patterns etc. But that warthog looked like he had it in him.

Mike
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You can see some of my shots at my Flickr account.
Aiki
Posted 24/08/2009 - 16:20 Link
Lot of them here.
If you defenetly want to post so many - then just give the pics numbers. Its easier to follow them then.

And maybe a question would be a help.
Do you just want people to select their fav ?
Or also critics - last case demands really less pics

Nr 2 was nice, 4. was ok...
but then my counting skills ended up
some were not good at all....
But I can see, that you enjoyed the zoo
Aiki

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Pentax K20D; SMC DA 18-55mm II kit; Sigma AF 70-300/4-5.6 APO DG MACRO
GIMP Flickr
PPG
titchgamer
Posted 24/08/2009 - 17:28 Link
LOL ok sorry guys, I got a lil carried away

@ Mike, Unfortunatly no I have no kids so i simply had to rely on my rather dodgy hands and the ocasional wall.

The Warthog is a River Hog (apparently)

I to like the shot of the Iguana and the one of the green lizards big head.
Also I liked the expression of the prairie dog.

But yes unfortunatly they were all (with the exception of the 2 birds) constrained shots, Shooting through glass or trying to avoid being knocked by hundreds of holidaying kids in the open!!

Main objective of me posting pics is really just to get a feel of whats good and whats bad, also improvements.

For instance pic 10 of the green lizard, I tryed to get the "rule of thirds" thing in it, Did I achive this or not? I dont know, ime still learning

Thanks all for comments thus far
Lil Andy

K20D, PENTAX DA 18-55, TAMRON DI 70-300, PENTAX SMC-K 135 f2.5

www.ajohnson-photography.co.uk
mikew
Posted 24/08/2009 - 17:46 Link
I'd say you more or less hit the thirds but in this case I don't think it helps much. All the energy of the composition is going up and left but we know the lizard is stationary and likely to stay that way. So the dead space left and lower is rather wasted (of course all in my opinion).

Have you tried rotating it through 90 degrees so the lizard is horizontal I bet it looks better and then you can jigger about with the composition and crop a bit.

I think my main problem with it is that everything is so green! Is there any way you could get the background to be a bit less green?

Mike
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You can see some of my shots at my Flickr account.
Aiki
Posted 24/08/2009 - 19:54 Link
Composition is what you are interested ?
Very shortly and only some remarks per pic - the things that jump into eye.
1. Two posts on rhino's back No noticable composition there.
2. Ok for me. Here you have used 2/3. (more or less)
3. I do like the background fence diagonals. ok.
4. Like the Dof. No need for the left side of the pic. Then a bit from upper part could cut off as well - to get the pic into proportions.
5. Dull. Object is cut. Too much of background.
7. Again the face in the middle. Cut off some left and a bit less of up.
10. green lizard: make a landscape format of it. It might help. Cut off the bottom up to almost the elbow etc...
11. green melon out of focus !!!
12.
13. overall almost ok Damn the branch right up.
14. if only the head was in focus properly. I would cut off some left.
16. would like only the faces. at least much closer.

....no enough. sry....
My husband was asking me already, if I am judging a next contest

May be you get at least some idea - good luck with your next pics !
If you work more with ONE pic, then soon the rest will be much better already in your camera
Aiki

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Pentax K20D; SMC DA 18-55mm II kit; Sigma AF 70-300/4-5.6 APO DG MACRO
GIMP Flickr
PPG
titchgamer
Posted 24/08/2009 - 22:00 Link
Thanks for all the comments guys, The Lizard was actually climbing the wall when I took the snap (very enthusisasticly I might add!)

Thanks for the break down Aiki its very usefull and something to consider in future.

Dont know how to reduce the green without taking it from the lizard really :-s

Do you find this works beter for you guys?

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Lil Andy

K20D, PENTAX DA 18-55, TAMRON DI 70-300, PENTAX SMC-K 135 f2.5

www.ajohnson-photography.co.uk
Edited by titchgamer: 24/08/2009 - 22:02
mikew
Posted 24/08/2009 - 22:18 Link
I'd say so - just need to lose some of the green!
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You can see some of my shots at my Flickr account.
Thordell
Posted 25/08/2009 - 08:30 Link
titchgamer wrote:

Dont know how to reduce the green without taking it from the lizard really :-s

Do you find this works beter for you guys?

What sort of post processing programme do you use? If we know someone can give you a blow by blow help to remove the green background.

Yes, for me the rotated image does work better.
Jackie H
K7, K20D, istDS, Optio SV, ME
Most used glass
50mm f1.4, 60-250mm, 28-80mm,
Sigma 105mm 2.8 Macro & Bertha 50-500
Aero
Posted 25/08/2009 - 14:04 Link
I had a quick play with this and it's relatively simple to adjust the background colour - but time-consuming to do it properly. I'm using Serif PhotoPlus X3 but the sample principle applies to almost any photo-editing programme (or program, if you must).

First you have to "select" the lizard with the freehand selection tool. This can be frustrating with a mouse but a graphics tablet is much better. At this stage, any changes you apply will relate to the lizard, which isn't what you want. Under the "selection" drop-down tab, you "invert selection", so any changes you make relate to everything except the lizard, which is what you want.

In this case, I applied hue, saturation and lightness adjustments to the selected area, but you can change the colour and intensity of the background in any way you want. To put make the background slightly less detailed, I added a little Gaussian blur. You can find my effort at the link below.

PhotoPlus has an "extract" function that is supposed to separate the lizard from the background relatively simply but this seldom perfectly in my experience. Other software is available to do the same thing but I've haven't tried it.

As always with photo-editing, it's important to work on a copy of your work so you keep the original safe. For more flexibility, you can create separate "layers" to adjust and combine them into the finished product.

I love the photos, by the way. They capture the character of the animals, which is what natural photography is all about.

Al



link
titchgamer
Posted 25/08/2009 - 17:20 Link
Thanks for that Info Al. Ile have a play tonight if I get time.

I tend to use photoshop for my PP but have been known to use picassa to.

Well I guess the horizontal lizzy wins then I should of set up a poll! LOL
Lil Andy

K20D, PENTAX DA 18-55, TAMRON DI 70-300, PENTAX SMC-K 135 f2.5

www.ajohnson-photography.co.uk
PentaxBabe
Posted 25/08/2009 - 19:35 Link
Andy,

This isn't fair as you know I take my shoots in Kenya or Tanzania. But nevertheless you want some pointers and while I don't class myself as an expert I am willing to try and help. You are very limited even at Chester Zoo. I have been and was disappointed. Check out Hammerton Zoo near Peterborough. A company called Photographers on Safari do photograhic trips there and you can sometimes go into the Cheetah enclosure and you do go in with the wolves. And you get far too close to the Tigers for me! I would recommend Hammerton Zoo for good photo opportunities.

Firstly, I think you would benefit from a longer lens - sorry, but even in a zoo they come in handy. Are you using continuous shoot or single shot? Continuous is better for wildlife action

Next, always try and get action shots or poses, on safari we have waited hours watching cheetahs snoozing in the hope they will roll over or start washing each other. Catching a greeting is great. Headshots can work as well as full body sometimes. Don't get hung up on the rule of thirds. It doesn't always work for wildlife but can do depending on the shot. Of your shots I think I like your Jaguar shot the best but would probably suggest cropping it. The River Hog would have been god if it had raised its head. It might have been worth waiting to see if it did it for you. The Penguin shot would have been better from a different angle. I have no idea what the next shot is? Is it the Sealions? Try to make sure viewers can at least know what they are looking at. Finally try and get the catchlight in the eyes when shooting outdoors. This would have made good shoots rather than just nice shoots. I have uploaded a few more examples on many flickr page including a sealion shot from Chester Zoo, the rest are in my Mara Kenya 2007 set. I have put a Rhino shot showing an example of how I have cropped it to make it a better picture I believe.

You do have some good shots with potential in this batch though. You are improving and given the right environment you will get some great shots

For all the better photographers here, like I said I don't consider myself a world expert on the subject. Just trying to help.

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