A day at the zoo

coldturkey1966 · Mar 22, 2008

Today I had the opportunity to shoot with the 70-300 VR lens thanks to my father-in-law, so I went to the zoo with my wife and my son. Well, what can I see except that this is an amazing lens.

Here are some examples:

Madwand1 · Mar 22, 2008

Did you shoot anything that wasn't white?

photogjml · Mar 22, 2008

The baby polar bear was my favorite... I am going to be buying a D80 on a budget soon (May) I am torn about buying the body with just the 70-300 VR to start or just put up with the 135 kit lens... or maybe try and get a used 18-55 and the 70-300 if the price is right... decisions, decisions...
Jeff

morris · Mar 22, 2008

You might want to read this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_%28visual_arts%29

Nice sharp photos.

Morris
--

http://qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/~morris/POD

coldturkey1966 · Mar 22, 2008

So what is it exactly that you want to tell me? That my pictures aren't well composed?

NYC Photos · Mar 22, 2008

coldturkey1966 said:
So what is it exactly that you want to tell me? That my pictures
aren't well composed?

I do believe that is what he was saying.

coldturkey1966 · Mar 22, 2008

Well, you may as well tell me in your own words what's so terrible about the composition of these pictures.

HobbesLaw · Mar 22, 2008

Your images are sharp and clear, but they are all centered. Read the article, especially the section on the 'Rule of thirds.'

Another technique that I recently read is when photographing animals try to allow for room in the image in either the direction the animal is moving or looking. This allows for an 'escape' for the animal and does not make the viewer feel the animal is caged in. I don’t see that problem here, however, since they are centered…just passing along more ideas.

benthevet · Mar 22, 2008

I like the photos. The centering does not bother me. Seem a bit underexposed to me though. I want that lens.
Where is the zoo. We are still under 10 inches of snow here
Ben

rernst · Mar 22, 2008

probably screwed up as well b/c of composition

this is the true color of the sky on Friday

this is the only good one that i didn't center,or that i liked

msc1 · Mar 22, 2008

coldturkey1966 said:
Well, you may as well tell me in your own words what's so terrible
about the composition of these pictures.

I don't get the composition comment either. A couple could use different cropping. The multiple penguin pic comes to mind, but most seemed reasonable.

I also don't get the comments about these being sharp.

Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of the 70-300 VR myself.

Which zoo was this?
msc

Dan Walther · Mar 23, 2008

Are you comparing these shots to the work of Salvador Dali? ;-)

coldturkey1966 · Mar 23, 2008

I took these pictures at the zoo in my hometown Vienna. It's the oldest zoo in the world btw.

About the composition: I know very well about the rule of thirds (I'm a former professional photographer and have studied photography - which of course doesn't necessarily mean that all my pictures are great). However I decided to compose these pictures the way I did because a) none of the animals were moving in a certain direction, so there was no reason to leave space in the direction of movement, b) the surroundings weren't nice or interesting enough to include them in a composition according to the rule of thirds and c) I was standing in a crowd of visitiors when I took the shot of the baby polar bear and had to fight with reflections from a pane.

I don't think that these pictures are perfect. I just wanted to show you some examples of the photos I took with the 70-300 VR, that's all.

jimmyhua73 · Aug 15, 2008

Really nice zoo pictures.

coldturkey1966 · Aug 15, 2008

Thank you!

These were my first shots with the 70-300 VR and I really like the lens a lot. Wish I could afford it. :-(

Now that I have taken another look at the pics I realize that they really need some pp.

BTW: Folks, I have to apologize for not thanking you for your comments and advice. Won't happen again. I promise!

discchucker · Aug 15, 2008

Really like the first polar bear one.

Dave

Silmaren · Aug 15, 2008

Well I for one think that polar bear cub is absolutely darling. I think that because the bears are looking almost directly at the veiwer the centered composition works very well, almost as if the viewer could have a conversation. Also I think because the bears tend to have wet bodies it makes the faces look softer in comparison to what they really are so that may be why people think some of them need sharpening. Also I really like the last penguin shot as I think the way there all positioned gives the shot an interesting view.

coldturkey1966 · Aug 16, 2008

When you take another look at the pictures in my original post, you will realize that I have applied some subtle post processing (sharpenig, levels/curves) to them.

And I'd like to add three more pics:

Let me know what you think of them now.

Take care,
Uli

1PhotoFan · Aug 16, 2008

2 and #3 are excellent! #1 is well exposed and sharp, but I would have put more space on the side that the bear is looking.

I would love to have that lense too, but alas, the coin escapes me.

Dale
--
Living the dream ... cleverly disguised as a responsible adult.

coldturkey1966 · Aug 16, 2008

You're right, I should have put the bear a little more to the right in No.1. I could try to crop it a little, but I think I won't, because I HATE cropping. So I guess I'll just leave it imperfect as it is.

Thanks for your nice comments on No. 2 and 3!

A day at the zoo

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