Tortoise (1 image)

This photo was taken during a visit to the local small village zoo over the weekend, but I'm not sure it works. Comments and criticisms please

Still Life

To be honest, Tim, I think one needs to see the head of the beast. Perhaps there's a little too much foreground grass too, although I like the idea of trying something different. Quite hard to get down to tortoise eye-level!

Obviously a very very slow shutter speed ! But seriously - not enough Tortoise ( with what looks like a beautifully patterned shell ),too much grass,and a lot of background greenery.
Would love to have seen more of the shell and the tortoise fromeither above or in front.

Sorry

Tony

+1 for the grass obscuring the beastie's friendly face Tim.

It doesn't work for me either I'm afraid. But I love the title.

Okay cheers chaps, clearly the tortoise's rear end isn't as photogenic as I'd hoped

I do have some head shots as well which I'll post once I get them online. I was just having a little fun fooling around trying to get the most out of this one. Thanks again for teh input.

Okay I cannot edit the original title to say 3 images, so apologies to the dial-up people

The long walk



Living fossil

Now that`s more like it !! Did you ask him/her to smile ?? Or watch the birdie ??
I`d still lose a bit of that lifeless grass but the Living Fossil is really interesting.

Regards

Tony
PS I have a recipe for turtle soup dated 1863 - only kidding ( not about the recipe ) just the idea !!

Tim I like the third most, but want see those textures and folds fill the shot even more. There's more interest in close ups of the skin than there is in the animal as a whole imho.

The second one's a great shot, as Tony says: much more like it.

Thanks again

Tony, unfortunately turtle soup is still fairly common in China and SE Asia, I've never tried it but I've seen it being served.

On the other hand there's a really excellent book called Survive the Savage Sea about a family adrift on a liferaft who survived for months eating mostly turtles and flying fish. They were quite inventive as I recall - turtle mignon and turtle jerky among other things, all washed down with cups of turtle blood

Pentaxophle good point, I will try some detail shots next time. Just discovered this local zoo have a £30 annual membership which I will probably try out. It's only 10 minutes away so I'm hoping to get my money's worth with a whole bunch of short visits. Paying £7.50 for a 30 minute visit would really stick in my craw

Turtles-Tim-were carried as supercargo on the old trading/sailing ships lashed to the decks - the idea being that they could be kept alive by the sailors and on reaching port,sold to the highest bidder ( for food ) and the proceeds shared amongst them as a bonus.Sometimes , if there were storms they lost them,or,if they were becalmed they would have to eat them themselves.The shells would be used as "tortoise shell" for decorative objets d`art as well.

Tony
( veal is now used in Europe as " Mock Turtle Soup " - bit like a consomme )

Interesting shots. I've only ever seen the small one's before.
I didn't realize they grew up like that.... looks quite old to
me.... even though I wouldn't know

Tony ah yes mock turtle soup! I had forgotten. I think Heston Blumenthal did one of those recently

Algi, funky beasts aren't they? These ones are Aldabra Giant Tortoises which are found exclusively on an island in the Seychelles. 150,000 of them, according to that link I just Googled The sign at the zoo says they live to about 100, although that Wiki page has stories of ones living to 250

I was surprised to learn about them, the only giant tortoises I ever heard much about were the famous Galapagos ones.

#3 brings out the character of the individual for me Tim - big improvement.