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Well I got home at 10pm tonight after having a wonderful, yet at times exhausting stay in Sydney. I was kind of running out of steam after doing the zoo and had to recharge on beroccas. Anyway I had a great time up in Sydney, it was great meeting you all. Special thanks to Thanh, Gary, Glen, Peter (for spotting us before Dean did, otherwise we might of been training it there), Leighton (sp?) and everyone that I haven't mentioned for making it such a great time.

The Tiger portrait could do with a bit more DOF as the eye is just slightly OOF. However it was a bit hard given the light and I didn't have my tripod. Was taken at 1/100th F4. For those who have been to the zoo, the Tigers and Lions are behind perspex while the Leopards are behind wire.

Anyway these are the first bunch of many.

















The last shot isn't actually the leg of the Tiger, it's actually the Tiger's Sisters arm. She came and sat down and cuddled him.


I was talking to Fozzie while out today, how it'd be great to be able to get a secondhand hood for the 70-200VR and cut it down and put rubber around the edge of it so that you can press it up against the glass to eliminate all reflections.

Darryl

An awesome bunch of shots. The weakest for me is the first - it lacks the punch of the others. Every other one is tack sharp and you've made wonderful use of the light. It was great to catch up - glad you enjoyed your stay.

Thanks Stubbsy, I sort of gathered that #1 lacked the quality of the others. I just liked the look in the lions eyes. The Tigers and Lions were really hungry and the look in their eyes at feeding time is amazing. I'm really glad they had that 1inch thick perspex there I'll have to go through my lion shot thumbnails more thoroughly to see what has potential. It was quite hard to get any decent shots when they were active because it was about 1.30pm, and every man and his dog was there at that time. You'd go to swing around the 70-200VR and almost smack somebody in the head. Poor Fozzie had some kid hanging off his monopod....lol

Darryl, some great images there and the close cropping works well. Great to catch up with you in Sydney

Cheers Glen, pretty much shot with the 70-200VR with no TC. Even backing right up at times to 70MM meant the shot was tight as you had to get fairly closs to the glass to reduce reflection/glare.

Fozzie and I were talking today about whether you'd consider setting up a night workshop down near Luna Park (dusk shots->dinner->night shots). I'd be up for coming up one weekend for it.

Stunning photos Darryl...

I finally met you on Sat night and I now wish that I had accompanied you and the crew to the zoo on Sunday...

You've inspired me to enrol as a Friend of the Zoo...

Kipper, Night shoots are always fun, the story of the last one is here somewhere, always up for it

I agree with Stubbsy. Awesome shots Kipper.

You've got some very cool shots there, Darryl. Nicely done.

Wow! Great work!!!!!!!

Beautiful shots there Darryl. Tremendous.
The only point I would make is that it's a shame that the second to last shot isnt sharp on the tigers eye.
Other than that very minor point I think these are magnificent.

Yeah I had two shots, it was fairly dissappointing that I didn't have more DOF. I was already shooting at ISO 800 and only had enough light for 1/100 and F4. Might of been able to get away with a little more aperture at the expense of shutter speed as I was using 130MM of focal length. Maybe next time

Awesome shots Daryl, especially the Snow Leopard shots, sharp as. What a beatitiful creature. Weren't the lions great when nearing feeding time? Oh, just checked on the kit lens too, yep there's a 67mm CPL on the kit lens that missing it's dad... Let me know the best way to catch up with you... Have you taken your kit lens back or contacted them?

Not yet, will do it this weekend when their opening times suit my timetable a bit more.

Great shots, Daryl. Very impressive.

Regards
Meicw

Hi Darrly,
Wow, these are great images! I love the second to last tiger shot and snow leopards pic's. Always enjoy viewing your post!
Cheers, Jase.

Kipper
Outstanding shots of the snow leopard! Some of the best I have ever seen. Bloody good photography!

Tah for the comments Matt.


FYI
Most of us pretty much used our zoom VR lenses for the job on the day. I'm sure most of us have very similar shots of the same thing. No PPing was done and the only alterations were probably +/- 0.3 EV and sharpening in Nikon Capture. The only visible difference that you can see between my shots Andrews and Nicoles is the colors and that probably comes down to white balance and image settings. I was shooting in cloudy (-1), which is what I shoot in all the time now when outdoors, as this was recommended by Pirostitch and I've grown to like it. I also was using enhanced saturation in camera, which was left on from the Lavendar Bay and Sydney Harbour Bridge Event.

kipper,
These always happened, even you use or share the same camera + lenses, each photogs has their own choices and tastes.

Kipper,

Excellent shots there. Can not wait to get home and view mine. Currently I am at Birddog's on the forum, with 1772 posts to go through. Should be able to get through the majority before I catch a taxi to the AP later this afternoon for the return journey to Adelaide .

And it finally comes to an end. The anxiety
I had a bit of that at the airport.

From birdies to pussies you make very interesting and compulsive viewing shots Daryl - it was a pleasure to meet the kipper on Saturday night as well

Rather than creating another post, just added onto Kipper's:

Daryl

this shot is awesome:
http://darryl.smugmug.com/photos/31373405-O.jpg

The colour contrast and the pose, well spotted
what lens did you use?

Great shots Kipper. The last two in particular are stunning.

Thanks and to answer the question, the 70-200VR of course