Chester Zoo meeting

[moomike]

Hi all, here are four of my images from today, was great to meet everyone, already looking forward to the next one. :thumbs:
My first time at using both an L Lens & a prime one at that - took a bit of getting used to!! I had no idea how fast my camera could focus with a decent lens (sounds silly I know but it really shocked me with the 4mp!!)
Cheers to Matt (Darksabre) for lending me the 100-400 to test (he had to borrow someone elses as I wouldn't let him have it back :lol: ) will post some of the marmot images when I get a min.
C&C welcome & cheers for looking.

Jaguar - redone with background.
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Jaguar02.jpg

Otter drinking - I know I could have just gotten rid of the blurred area at the front right, but think it adds a bit of depth to the image - may get rid if enough people don't like it :thumbsdown:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Otter01.jpg

Meercat in bushes - border made smaller
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Meercat011.jpg

Penguin shouting - odd pose, don't think I've ever seen a penguin do this - was obviously offended by me taking its picture :lol:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Penguin01.jpg

Anyway, cheers for looking,
Mike :thumbs:

[Matt Charlton]

Wow that penguin one is unique - I never saw any of them do anything like that. All four of them are top notch mate, I'm just about to start processing some RAW files :s

[Joe T]

A good selection there. Is it me or is the first one lacking in colour a bit?

Like you, I think the meerkat in the bushes is great. Is different from the usual shots of meerkats where the subject is isolated from the background. :)

[Diego Garcia]

Quality stuff Mike. I like :)

[Marcel]

Quality stuff Mike. I love that penguin shot. Very different (we missed the penguins).

Agree about the meercat shot :) Im guilty of that too.

[Marik]

Brill stuff, Penguin is wicked and I love your copywrite image :D

[Forbiddenbiker]

Nice set, Love the Jaguar shot, he looks very happy, very full and very fat....the lazy slob. lol.


Hope you don't mind me saying mike; I like your frame design and logo, but I find the thickness of them over powering and very distracting compared to the size of the images.

[matty]

very good, well presented too

what the hell is that penguin doing?!?

[Marcel]

A front flip followed a pirhouette, and a 720 flip turn, beautifully ended with a belly flop.

[moomike]

A good selection there. Is it me or is the first one lacking in colour a bit?

You may be right Joe, I really love the colour reproduction on the 1D as it always turns out really natural but if it's an image taken in a cloudy, shaded area of the Zoo maybe those aren't the best of natural colours to use!!:bonk:
I'll have a play with the saturation levels & see how it turns out. Cheers for the feedback

Hope you don't mind me saying mike; I like your frame design and logo, but I find the thickness of them over powering and very distracting compared to the size of the images.

Don't mind you saying at all mate, really appreciate the feedback. I'll also have a go at the borders & repost later on.

Cheers to everyone for looking & commenting. :thumbs:

[moomike]

A front flip followed a pirhouette, and a 720 flip turn, beautifully ended with a belly flop.

:lol: I tried to capture that but I just wasn't up to the job :D

[IanC_UK]

very nice set of pics there Mike, i think that Jaguar shot would benefit from a background really, the white is throwing my eyes all over the place, and makes it look like its not there, if you know what i mean ? maybe just some greenery or something?

[CT]

Nice work! I'd be tempted to drop a sky background into your jaguar shot, which should be pretty easy as you've done all the hard work.

I'm glad you're pleased with your 1D - it just goes to show it's not all about pixels. ;)

[petemc]

Dude you broke the penguin :D Great shot. Never seen anything like that.

[minimeeze]

Some lovely shots there. I love the Jaguar one, although I do agree with Ian & CT that it would benefit from background - looks like it popped along to 'Venture' for a portrait sitting :lol:

Looks like you really p*ssed the penguin off!

[moomike]

I'm glad you're pleased with your 1D - it just goes to show it's not all about pixels. ;)

Cheers for that mate, I haven't had that much chance to field test it but I am definately going to have to make time now :p

Cheers for the comments everyone - after I've hit my work deadline tomorrow I'm going to have a look through & post process the rest of my shots (& add in a background for the jaguar).

[DaveFeeder]

Love the meerkat shot, looks far more natural than any I seem to be able to capture.

As eveyone else has said, great penguin image too, it's unique! :D

[moomike]

Cheers for that Dave, I still can't work out what that penguin was trying to tell me though :shrug: :lol:

[kamion]

no orang utan kid shots this time then? :(

Yeah, what's with the penguin? What's it doing? :thinking:

[moomike]

no orang utan kid shots this time then? :(

:lol: I do actually have a few - will get around to processing them especially for you mate as I know how much you like the narky little bu**er :lol: I was going through my shots from last time too & have plenty more angry baby orang utan ammunition from then too :thumbs:

[moomike]

Have processed some more of my shots & am starting to notice a bit of a pattern :thinking: I never seem to manage to capture straight up portraits - more often than not, the subject deliberately pulls some kind of face or does something random :lol:

See what I mean, first off, this little guy winked at me:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Otter02.jpg

And then to add insult to injury he proceeded to laugh at me too:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Otter_laughing.jpg

Here are a few of my serious shots though, just so it looks like i'm not just going out to get comedy shots :D

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Elephant01.jpg

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/500/Marmot01.jpg

Thanks for looking again & cheers for all of the feedback so far.
Thanks to the recommendations, I have added a background & a bit more saturation to the jaguar in my original post & altered the sizes of the meercats border which has definately improved them imo :thumbs:

[Brains]

nice shots again.

Borders do work well now that they are not so thick.

[IanC_UK]

more nice shots Mike, the Jaguar looks a lot better, slight halo'ing around the log in places but may only show on this small one ! :)

[Mike]

Some nice shot's Mike, paticularly like what you've done with the Jaguar one :)

Mike

[moomike]

Cheers for that Brains, Ian & Mike. :thumbs:

[Pete E]

Very nice shots Mike...

I think you must have thrown the penguine a "Victory V" though to get him to pull that face!

Regards,

Pete

[Ally]

I though I had replyed to this :thinking: aw well

Great shots Mike, I love the way they are so well presented :thumbs:

[Matt Charlton]

A super penguin pose and an otter yawning, you did fantastically well there mate, I never seem to catch them doing anything other than sitting, laying down or sleeping. Love the borders and the jag looks much better.

[lee]

Great shots, and you certainly seem to have a nack for the comedy shots. You should start another thread for the penguin like the Orangu tan last time.

I'll start.... Farther Abraham, seven sons he had...... :D

[namllihs]

Hi Mike, someone at work mentioned Penguins today and it reminded me to search for this thread.
Some great stuff there particularly the Jaguar and of course the bendy neck Penguin and the Otters and...........:)

[BALDYMAN]

wow some great shots there. well done