Fuengirola Zoo

[V6GTO]

I took 297 shots, of which 272 are keepers. I won't bore you with loads, but here are a few...

[pic]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/V6GTO/Leopard1comp.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/V6GTO/GreenPythoncomp.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/V6GTO/pelicancomp.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/V6GTO/Chimp2comp.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/V6GTO/Alligator1comp.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/V6GTO/Tigerportrait.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/V6GTO/Orang-utancomp.jpg[/pic]

[pic]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v520/V6GTO/WhiteCrestedCranecomp.jpg[/pic]

Martin.

[superlightr]

They are stunning!

What zoom lens did you use?

[KarlosFandango]

Top stuff!!! I'm amazed you got 90% hit rate, I'm currently working on 10%

[2 Smokin Barrels]

You even managed to catch Rich36 on his day off!

[Mr Noble]

Martin? Where ahve you gone?

I too would like to know what kit and settings you used for these, great shots, I love the focus detail.

Shots like this that I take with my 18-70 on the D70, never seem to blurr the back ground enough.

Greg

[_dobbo_]

I suspect they are taken with a 100-400L - longer focal lengths with larger apertures (smaller f numbers) would give less depth of field.

These are great by the way Martin. Are some of them from behind fences?

As for the hit rate - I'm nowhere near that. It does however beg the question - 250+ keepers - what do you do with them? A nice problem to have I suppose.

>> Edited by _dobbo_ on Monday 17th October 10:05

[V6GTO]

_dobbo_ said:

I suspect they are taken with a 100-400L - longer focal lengths with larger apertures (smaller f numbers) would give less depth of field. These are great by the way Martin. Are some of them from behind fences? As for the hit rate - I'm nowhere near that. It does however beg the question - 250+ keepers - what do you do with them? A nice problem to have I suppose. >> Edited by _dobbo_ on Monday 17th October 10:05

The Leopard, Green Python, Tiger and Alligator were behind glass, the others I had a clear shot at. All were taken with a Canon 20D and Canon 100-400L IS f4.5-5.6, as you thought, except the Green Python for which I used a Canon 100mm f2.8 Macro and Canon 580EX flash.
As for the hit rate, they're not all as good as these, maybe 50 are, and I've been through them again (brutally) and have cut it down to about 200 that I can't throw away. I convert them to tiffs and delete the RAW files.

Martin.

PS:- While I don't post looking for praise it's very nice to receive, so thanks to all for that. I'd be just as happy to receive critique, so please fire away.

[te51cle]

The Pelican (?) is amazing. Did you do anything to it or was it just the light ? It looks almost like it was an illustration in a Victorian book.

Shame the tip of the beak on the bird at the bottom is going out of focus, the feathers on his plume look OK and the eye is in sharp focus so maybe next time either a bit more depth of field would be required or possibly bring the focussing point a little further forward from the usual point of focus on the eye. Did you blur the background at all or is the photo as shot ?

Unusual take on the tiger, quite odd to be looking sideways through the lens of its eye. Also like the composition looking through the blades of grass, gives one the feeling of being on the hunt with it.

I'd lke to see what the chimp was doing with his other hand. I can only see an out of focus finger on the fourth limb and it looks a bit odd. Think you could crop that off the bottom which would help transfer attention back to his face and casual ear-scratching moment.

Could be worth adding a bit of gentle blur to the snake's coil on the top left of the picture. You've got a large out of focus area at the front-right of the picture and a sharp area at the rear-left that looks slightly odd/unbalanced.

Hmm... thinks, must get out some old snaps of freshwater crocs in Australia...

[V6GTO]

te51cle said:

The Pelican (?) is amazing. Did you do anything to it or was it just the light ? It looks almost like it was an illustration in a Victorian book. Shame the tip of the beak on the bird at the bottom is going out of focus, the feathers on his plume look OK and the eye is in sharp focus so maybe next time either a bit more depth of field would be required or possibly bring the focussing point a little further forward from the usual point of focus on the eye. Did you blur the background at all or is the photo as shot ? Unusual take on the tiger, quite odd to be looking sideways through the lens of its eye. Also like the composition looking through the blades of grass, gives one the feeling of being on the hunt with it. I'd lke to see what the chimp was doing with his other hand. I can only see an out of focus finger on the fourth limb and it looks a bit odd. Think you could crop that off the bottom which would help transfer attention back to his face and casual ear-scratching moment. Could be worth adding a bit of gentle blur to the snake's coil on the top left of the picture. You've got a large out of focus area at the front-right of the picture and a sharp area at the rear-left that looks slightly odd/unbalanced. Hmm... thinks, must get out some old snaps of freshwater crocs in Australia...

Only thing done to the pelican in PS was a little sharpening and a little more exposure adding. The shot was taken in a dark corner so the lens was wide open, thus no more DoF was availible, and the background is as shot.

With the young chimp, that's full frame. No more was put in as it would then included his "not so nice" bits.

Thank you very much for commenting, Tristram.

Martin.

[te51cle]

V6GTO said:

With the young chimp, that's full frame. No more was put in as it would then included his "not so nice" bits.

Ah yes, I remember seeing a chimp at Chester Zoo many years ago demonstrating what he could do with his feet as well as his hands. "Mummy, what's that chimpanzee doing ?". "Come away from the monkeys dear, lets go and see some of those nice llamas shall we ? ...I mean right now !"

[rustybin]

V6GTO said:

PS:- While I don't post looking for praise it's very nice to receive, so thanks to all for that. I'd be just as happy to receive critique, so please fire away.

OK, tried that but really can't think of anything I would have done any better. Differently, maybe. Better, probably not. Having said that, I reckon a high contrast monochrome of the chimp and the orang-utan's faces would look great and really highlight all those lines. Again, not better, just different.

[V6GTO]

And just for you, rustybin...



Martin.

Edited to add:- compressing this has killed the contrast I'm afraid

>> Edited by V6GTO on Thursday 20th October 17:40

[rustybin]

Ta muchly. Excellent. You could add that to the 'Did you spill my pint' thread.

[V6GTO]

rustybin said:

You could add that to the 'Did you spill my pint' thread.

And this one...



Martin.