Few shots from the Melbourne Zoo this moaning...

[mudder]

G'day all,
Went to Melbourne Zoo this morning (again)... Can't help myself...

Anyway, the shots might be a smidge sus, as I've saved as jpegs a couple of times while buggering around (hmm, after mentioning animals that might not be the best term to use huh), didn't save in the interim as TIFF, doh... Ahh well... was still fun

Had trouble with some blown highlights, maybe after reading the metering thread, perhaps I should be using spot/centre-weighted more... Will have to try that...

http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php?album=33&pos=2
http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php?album=33&pos=3
http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php?album=33&pos=4
http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php?album=33&pos=5
http://www.pixspot.com/displayimage.php?album=33&pos=6


Cheers,
Mudder

[Killakoala]

THe monkey is an excellent photo. Superb framing. well done.

I love that orangutan too. He's watching you take the photo. A bit of a contrast adjustment would make it look a bit better though. if you have Nikon Capture, then pop over to the http://forum.d70users.com/viewtopic.php?t=1089 thread and download the curves i posted there. use the AGFA curve and i reckon it will improve that photo heaps.

I take it you used the 80-400 VR on those pics? They are nice and sharp and well exposed too. A nice lens.

Keep up the good work.

[W00DY]

maybe after reading the metering thread, perhaps I should be using spot/centre-weighted more... Will have to try that...

Cheers,
Mudder

I am glad you got something out of it, I started the thread and am more confussed now then before

W00DY

[birddog114]

mudder,
They're quite nice pics, I like the orangutan most in other pics.
The 80-400VR does pay you back some isn't it?
But with the 200-400VR, you will be thrilled

[Greg B]

Excellent mudder, a great bunch of shots - hard to pick a fave...

[Matt. K]

Love no 7! Sell it! Love no 16! No 13 colour balance is off...much too green. Try this...open 13 and go to image/adjustments/variations...look at the ring around and see if there is a better colour balanced image...one that looks more natural. Click on the best square and then go to edit/fade variations. Crank the slider until you get the best look. (This is only 1 of many ways to do a quick colout fix).

I found by clicking the red image and backing the fade slider of a little the colours looked much better.

By the way, the above advice is for a quick fix...not an accurate one. Must admit I use it fairly often though.

[bwhinnen]

I love the Orangutan photos. Specially of the youngsters! That lens (and the photographer behind it) is great!

Great work!

Cheers
Brett

[mudder]

G'day all,
Just surfacing on a day off, slurping coffee as I type... Ahhh love it...

Yep, the Otters were shot through thick glass and I had a struggle getting the right balance, was a quicky to post.

It's always good to get eye contact with the animal, but to do it you sometimes have to wait, and wait, and wait... I'm a sucker for primates...

Birddog, that 80-400VR... wow that makes a difference... Doesn't make every shot a winner, but geees it increases your keep rate by swags... That thing means I've taken shots when I would previously have walked away... The number of comments I've had from other people taking photos beside me with their little silver cigarette packet P&S cam's are funny, I think it comes back to that size thing... One person was trying to get a shot of some chimps on the other side of a river through the Zoo with their P&S, so I passed my cam to them and I thought it was going to be difficult to get it back (in a friendly way )...

Been playing with DDE in the Nikon Capture stuff, wow does a good job but for the first time since getting the D70 I considered noise reduction (by raising the shadows so much)... Great tool...

Killa, I'll try the curves, thanks mate...

Day off = Where am I going to play today???

Cheers,
Mudder

[PlatinumWeaver]

Lovely shots!

That's the 80-400VR that's roughly 4.5-5.6 is that right?
Is that the nikon or the sigma?
Are these crops of the originals or resized full images?

[mudder]

G'day PlatinumWeaver,
Yep, Nikon 80-400VR, F4.5-5.6. For me it's a wonderful lens that allows me to take shots that I previously would have ended up deleting once loaded into the PC and I could see how blurry it was. Self-inflicted tho as my old shaky hands always struggled with any long zoom shots... My keeper rate has increased by an order of magnitude. I would previously have kept a few out of *many*, now I keep most. Maybe not for sports but for long animal, bird shots, etc. it's brilliant.

Most of the shots are full-size, some cropped but not by much. With that length lens I can usually zoom in enough so I don't need to crop.

All I can say is, get that plastic money ready matey! Shout yourself a pressie for Christmas. You won't regret it...

Cheers,
Mudder PS. Gee the VR club is growing!

[Nicole]

Cool shots Mudder. The baby orangutan is always one of my favourites. It's hard to control the highlights when it's so sunny. I usually try to go first thing in the morning before the sun gets too harsh.

Birddog, stop tempting us with that 200-400VR! I can only dream...

[Vicareyus]

Terrific shots mudder. Well composed and caught and also great lens. Love 7. Shot 16 is amazing though for its sharpness..really blew me away! well done.
Vic

[mudder]

G'day, In between work calls (doh!)...

Nicole, I'm a shocker... I'm at the Zoo half an hour before it opens... Can't help myself Hope we both get a spot on the sunset photographic safari at Werribee. The baby Orangatang was about 30' up a pole and I was looking at about 60degrees up, almost into the sun, so played with DDE a fair bit as the Orangatang was almost a sillohette, but pushed the noise up... That was the first time I've used noise reduction with the D70, with my previous cam (Fuji S7000) I used it on most shots...

Vic, thanks mate. Although I'm only lernin' how to drive the thing, but wow what a diff between the 80-400VR and my old zoom.

Re; 200-400 = My recent affirmation, leave the bankcard at home, leave the bankcard at home, leave the bankcard at home...

Cheers,
Mudder.