Cat, cat, monkey, apes

[DanielA]

It felt like I hadn't taken any photos recently so I took a quick trip into the Adelaide Zoo, since they are open later on Fridays through January.

Thanks for the heads-up Fozzie, so here's a tiger shot.

Sure it's not a leap, but I haven't seen the boy cooperate in a long time.

The young Serval were active. And the baby mandrill had grown.


It had been a warm day so the residents were just hanging out...


...or were just hanging around.

There wasn't many people there so it was nice to just wander around.

Daniel

[gstark]

Daniel,

The first of these is spectacularly good.

The eye contact, the expression, and the light all work together to make this a really special image.

As good as it is, I'd love to see a tighter crop here: crop out most of the water at the bottom; I'd leave a slice about the size of the tiger's paw at the bottom, and perhaps crop the top at a point where the body (back) joins the lh side of of the image frame.

[DanielA]

Thanks Gary.

As good as it is, I'd love to see a tighter crop here: crop out most of the water at the bottom;

Yes, I was hoping the reflection would be more pronounced.

Here's the crop I think you described:

This is nearly square.
I'm not sure, it feels a bit bottom heavy to me. What do other people think?

Daniel

[fozzie]

Daniel,

Glad you had a good time last night, and rewarded with some great images.

I am very impressed with your shots of the young Serval and baby Mandrill For people who do not know, they are normally extremely hard to shot, as the Serval enclosure grey wire is a disaster, and the Mandrill's mother rarely leaves him/her alone.

The tight crop of the Sumatran Tiger works for me. Great exposure and saturation and finished off with the natural beauty of the Tiger

Unfortunately, I could not make it along on Friday night, but I will there around 6pm next Friday

[gstark]

Here's the crop I think you described:

Thanks, and yes.

On reflection (smile) I'm inclined to take even more off the top. Maybe down to the shoulder?

I think this is an image that shows the power and beauty of the tiger, and tightening the crop only enhances the feeling of power.

Just my PP0.00002.

[Geoff M]

Nice set, I like the tiger best of all. (both the original and the crop )

[stubbsy]

Daniel

I don't care how it's cropped - that tiger shot is exceptional.

[DanielA]

Thank you all.

On reflection (smile) I'm inclined to take even more off the top. Maybe down to the shoulder?
I think this is an image that shows the power and beauty of the tiger, and tightening the crop only enhances the feeling of power.

True. OK, here's a 10x8 crop:

Just my PP0.00002.

At the current exchange rate shouldn't that be PP0.04?

For those interested, this is the wider scene:

I am very impressed with your shots of the young Serval and baby Mandrill For people who do not know, they are normally extremely hard to shot, as the Serval enclosure grey wire is a disaster, and the Mandrill's mother rarely leaves him/her alone.

Thanks. The cage is horrible. You can get a feel from this shot:

The young female (I think I read) was actually bouncing around freely (say around a metre from mum). Only going back to mum a couple of times.


Daniel

[gstark]

Daniel,

That's the crop.

Magic!

[Wink]

Love the Tiger shot.

[wendellt]

everything in the first is great
well done

[CraigVTR]

Love the tiger shot and the two shots linked to, especially the last.

[DanielA]

Thank you all very much.

Daniel

[biggerry]

sh$te! they are all pretty damn fine - the final crop on the first image is by far the standout for me, although I appreciate the effort and uniqueness of the others.

[dviv]

Daniel,

That's the crop.

Magic!

Fantastic! - Print it BIG!

[surenj]

Damn that crop is looking menacing!

[latch]

Yes, the tiger shot is my favourite and the tighter 10x8 crop works best for me.

There could be another appealing crop in there too, as the rippled water in the original does contain an interesting distorted reflection. I often find the 3:2 aspect ratio is too narrow in vertical orientation, and get very pleasing results by cropping the top or bottom of an image back to a 4x5 ratio. I chose 4x5 simply because that is what some medium format cameras traditionally shot at. It could be worth cutting the top off the original image and taking it to a 4x5 with the reflection included.

But it will be hard to beat the composition of that tight 10x8.

[DanielA]

Thanks guys.

There could be another appealing crop in there too, as the rippled water in the original does contain an interesting distorted reflection.

Thanks Latch. Here's the crop I think you described:

I think if the reflection was stronger then this would work more. This arrangement was more of what I was hoping for originally, but the 10x8 crop won out...

Daniel