Zoo Shots

[kdoc856]

Just shot these at local zoo (through 3 inches of plexiglass), converted via SEP. Would appreciate any PP thoughts you guys might have.

Thanks,
Kevin

[rubyb]

Kevin,

This may be a bit out of my league, but I love your shots, especially the pensive closeup. My own experience of shooting through glass in a zoo is uniformly terrible, and I cant believe how little evidence there is of a glass partition in either shot. Well done!

Ruby

[kdoc856]

Thanks, Ruby

The color shots were total crap- weird rainbow halos from the glass. Tight crop, heavily blurred background and B&W conversion were all salvage attempts. Terrible shooting conditions- dark, a small-child scrum around me and flashes from the P&S cameras against the glass just about took any fun out of it. Glad you liked it, and thanks for commenting

Kevin

[epmi314]

Kevin,

I think these are better than salvaged. A tighter crop on the second one omitting the blur of the moving hand might be a thought. The first is nice in my opinion, perhaps in a perfect scenario enough DOF to make the hair and ear come into focus would be great but with a bunch of glass in between that may not have even been possible.

Were these shot at the Columbus Zoo? One of the many things I miss about living in the middle of O-HI-O.

[kdoc856]

Heya, Scott

Good to hear from you. Thanks for your viewing and comments. I definitely will try a crop of that hand (had just been pulled back from some world-class nose-picking)

You are correct, this is the Columbus Zoo (currently ranked no. 1 in the US) which I love, but it has virtually no areas conducive for photography.

Kevin

[epmi314]

When I lived down there I hadn't yet thought of taking up photography. The zoo is amazing though. We took family there every time they visited. It seems like zoos would be well served to design enclosures for better photography. I'd certainly pay for a little more access.

Oh, how I miss the Drunken Shrimp Pasta at Figglio's a few miles down Riverside!

[WJT]

Just shot these at local zoo (through 3 inches of plexiglass), converted via SEP. Would appreciate any PP thoughts you guys might have.

Thanks,
Kevin

very nice I think. Were you using a polariser filter? It helps heaps shooting through glass or water.

[kdoc856]

Greetings, Wayne

Initially I did have a polarizing filter on, but the light reduction in an already dark enclosure required me to take it off. I had to use the bodies of both my wife and I in some creative contortions (she's incredibly tolerant of me) to block reflections off the glass. The color shots were just weird- pleiglass can create some odd and very unnatural rainbow effects. Thanks for viewing and comments.

Kevin

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Kevin,

You have indeed done well 'rescueing' these and they are better still viewed fullsize (F11 and click image)

For me, I do find the moving hand a distraction in #2, but the empty space on the left also seems a waste in the composition, but the eye contact is amazing.

I often find some of the smaller zoos and wildlife parks (in UK anyway) can offer better photo opportunities, although perhaps with less variety.

Cheers,

[kdoc856]

Thank you, Dave

I completely agree a left sided crop is an improvement, and have done so on my own copy. don't know why I didnt see it before- I really aggravate me sometimes. Tried cropping the blurred hand, just couldnt make it work. Thanks for your help.

Kevin

[Wendy Stanford]

Hi Kevin, I think your salvage effort is excellent, my experience through plexiglass wasn't good and I haven't revisited, but I might try the B&W and see if I can improve on what I have, thanks