Chester Zoo Today - new shots added 14.04.08

[staffitaxi]

Well, have been desperately trying to get something on before my battery dies.

Will get to look at everyone else's photos tomorrow at work. This connections a bit slow over wireless so takes forever to download.

I had to do quite a bit of work on the Jaguar so not much time for anything else. I'm reasonably happy with it being as it was taken indoors through glass.

Andrea

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[IanC_UK]

Very nice Andrea one small nit pick with the Jaguar, you cut its bum off ? bt otherwise not bad, the white balance got a bit messed up by the inside though althogh that should be possible to fix in post

 

[wez130]

love the 1st one and as Ian said, the Jag would be better if you didn't cut his bum off

 

[digitalfailure]

they had Lions

Every time we went past their enclosure, it was empty !!

 

[zarozinia]

Both great shots but I prefer no 1

 

[Marcel]

I love that Jaguar one. Shame as Ian says about the bum and the WB, but youve caught the best pose I've seen so far, just looks so playful and cute

 

[mattyh]

Awww cute little puddy cat No point saying the same as Ian & marcel, so I won't

 

[staffitaxi]

Hmmm, I have a feeling the jaguars bum was behind a post but I'd need to check the original to say for definite.

How do I alter the White Balance? I only have Photoshop Elements 4.

Ta

Andrea

 

[R8JimBob88]

I was stalking the Jags for ages inside, as soon as I turn my back two of them appear and have a scrap! Sods law eh

Oh and very good pics, love the Jag one

 

[IanC_UK]

Andrea, it looks like it might be more a levels issue than white balance, i tweaked the levels a little and got this, but im sure if you play in Elements it will be even better Did you shoot raw ?

Before

After

 

[staffitaxi]

Nope sorry, haven't developed as far as RAW yet. Keep wanting to try but wasn't sure if my version of elements could handle it.
Didn't want to get home and find I couldn't download any of my photos.

I had already messed with the levels quite a bit, just didn't want to go too far. The picture was very dark to start with.

I'll have another go tonight.

Thanks

Andrea

 

[R8JimBob88]

It was very dark in there, I was shooting at 200mm as slow as 1/40th! VR and a monopod saved my arse though

Did you get any of the two having a scrap?

 

[IanC_UK]

The histogram is your friend Andrea, i add an adjustment layer, for levels, and make sure the histogram touches each end, then use the centre slider to adjust highlights and shadows.

There is a decent explanation on the levels in here, i think most of it stands for elements as well as Photoshop so should be ok

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=2480

 

[staffitaxi]

Yes, but they were a blurred mess so have deleted them. They had gone passed the point of recovery.

I was shooting pretty much the same as you but with no monopod. I just tried not to breathe!!

 

[staffitaxi]

Thanks Ian, I'll definitely have another go later.

Andrea

 

[moomike]

Nicely done Andrea, that shot did turn out really well after all the panicking
Excellent expression you've captured there

 

[CJR]

Love the jaguar shot, Andrea! I have yet to attempt any indoor shots, you are setting a high standard to aspire to.
Cathy

 

[trev wilson]

Nice to meet you Andrea, great pics

 

[staffitaxi]

Right have tried to re-process the jaguar again. Hope its a bit better. His bum was hidden by a large dark post so although he's missing his bum it looks better cropped out.

And the rest of my processed shots.

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Thanks for looking. Any advice greatfully received.

Andrea

 

[IanC_UK]

Nice set again the Jag is better, still a little colour cast to it but much closer now shame about the pole, bit unfortunate

The duckling shot is a cracker as is the Effalump

 

[staffitaxi]

Thanks Ian, yep, even more frustrating after seeing some of the others shots which quite clearly show he does in fact have a bum.

 

[InaGlo]

Awww!!!!
Love the little duckling really cute!

 

[CJR]

Does cropping the jaguar even more help the composition?

Just a thought, as the image quality is of course extremely degraded by the heavy crop ...

Cathy

 

[Jo]

Lovely shots there Andrea!

 

[staffitaxi]

Actually Cathy I like that crop.

I was just worried about cropping off too much as the actual image is probably not just as sharp as it could be due to the conditions, hand held, slow shutter speed, dark room.

I'll try that with the original file to see how it goes as you have made such a good job of it on the small file.

Thanks

Andrea

 

[CJR]

No problems Andrea. Even if it doesn't work this time with this image, at least it may be an idea for next time you might be in a similar situation and you can crop and get in close when you actually compose the shot. I've learnt from my own many and continuing mistakes and less-than-successful photos that often, going in close can give a better result than trying to encompass everything.



Cathy