Wildlife park

[siejones]

Had a blinder of a day out today. Here are the first batch of a decent bunch of pics :)

Some are experimental for me so excuse if they don't work ;)

1
http://www.ukmountains.com/forumpics/IMG_3995.jpg

2
http://www.ukmountains.com/forumpics/IMG_4003.jpg

3
http://www.ukmountains.com/forumpics/IMG_4004.jpg

4
http://www.ukmountains.com/forumpics/IMG_4022.jpg

5
http://www.ukmountains.com/forumpics/IMG_4026.jpg

6
http://www.ukmountains.com/forumpics/IMG_4036.jpg

[chewyuk]

Great shots Sie - The first snake for me stands out as a cracker. Great focus, neat catchlight as well ! :)
Love number 4 as well, just a tad less of the greenery on the right.
Is that a snowy owl?

[PIKEMAN]

Great shots siejones love the owl shot. Was it the Cotswold life park you visited .the only reason i ask is because of the leopards eyes .

[P-E]

Cracking set of shots.

[siejones]

Cheers pips :)

Not sure about the owl sorry :shrug:. I rarely read the labels on what I shoot :lol:. Although I don't think it is.

This is cotswold wildlife park. Funny you should say that about the Amur leopards eyes. I have only seen eyes like that on the leopard here too. They are truely amazing though arn't they?

[CT]

Superb! That first snake shot is amazing.

[PIKEMAN]

The one leopard has had cataract operations.thats why i think we get that strange effect from the eyes. Still a beautiful big cat .

[moomike]

Excellent shots as usual mate, the 1st really stands out for me though, amazing shot :clap:

[h.r.ford]

first snake is just wonderful! I also love the abstract zebra, very nice.

[Torpedo]

Wow. All very nice shots. The leopard's eyes are amazing.
I'll have to get myslf down there sometime.

My guess for #1 would be a southern white faced scops owl. I say that, as I got a similar picture. One thing I've learnt to do at zoos etc, is to take a photo of the labels, so you have a record of what it is, you are photoghraphing.

[InaGlo]

Some really class animal shots here Sie.
Pushed to choose a fave ... it would have to be the 1st snake shot... fantastic! :thumbs:

[Jonnyreb]

Some more excellent shots Sie - as usual ;)

1 and 2 are excellent :thumbs:

3 looks a little on the 'yellow' side - anything you can do to cool it down?

The eyes in 4 are awesome!!!! :thumbs:

5 could use a levels tweak and sharpen and would make a great abstract hanging :thumbs:

6 does least for me but the composition is good - maybe you could crop the top and right so that the diagonal finishes on the top of the head?

top work :clap:

[siejones]

Thanks everyone :)

Jonnyreb..I appreciate the critique. You obviously took note of my last post :)

Number 3 was artificial light used in the display. I could have corrected it with a white balance adjustment but I kind of liked it. The red's are blown out on the right but again I kind of liked the contrast effect it gave. I like to test the water with different things sometimes and this was one of those images :)

Number 5 was another one of these images and seemed to enjoy a little more popularity which is duley noted :) Problem is with this shot that I actually knew at the time I took it was that it didn't have enough DOF which leads to the OOF from middle to bottom right (no pun intended ;)). I should have stopped down but it would have meant using a much higher ISO (handheld a moving subject) and it would have been noiser. I prolly should have done both in hindsight.

Number 6 wouldn't that cut the picture in half? The emphasis for this shot was really those delicate feathers around the beak. You are right I probably could have chosen a better compostion for this one.

Thanks mate :thumbs:

[Bubbs]

Really good shots love the first snake one and the eyes in the number 4 are brilliant :thumbs:

[photostar_1]

The contrast between the eye colour and feathers in the owl is fantasic and that first snake really works because of the complementary colours in the background. The eyes in 3 & 4 are wonderful and although not sharp throughout, the abstract is really good. no 6 is the only one that doesn't quite hit the mark with me. Well done :thumbs:

[IanC_UK]

1,2 and 4 get my vote, great set of shots :)