It was time for another visit to Brookfield Zoo. ; I went back for a members only preview of their new exhibit, "Great Bear Wilderness". ; It's a new habitat for their brown and polar bears that gives them a lot more space that joins together with their already existing wolf habitat, there's also bald eagles and bison.
The bears were not really cooperating for the camera, besides it'll take time to get used to shooting them in this new environment. ; When they behave it should be good, it seems like it gives me open air (no barriers of any kind between me and them) line of sight to them with a comparatively low angle that should make for dramatic shots, and there's also a viewing window into the polar bear pool.
However, to start off with the wolves were still good to me. ; I never get tired of shooting them, even if I do largely return with the same shots every time. ; For this one, notice the shaved patch on the front leg. ; I think I know what that is, it seems one of their wolves was given something like a CAT scan a little while back, I'm guessing maybe they sedated it for the procedure and the leg is where they put the IV line in.
I want opinions on this shot. ; What do you guys think? ; Okay, aside from the shaved patch, it ruins the illusion of this being a wild setting, that I know. ; But otherwise how does it look? ; I thought it was kind of unique, the lighting at least is not like what I've captured before. ; But as is too often the case I have no sense of it being better or worse.. just.. different.
When I saw this next little fellow I knew I was going to be sticking by him (or her) for a bit. ; I can honestly say I suffered for this little guy, kneeling down to get a lower angle really did a number on my knees. ; I got a lot of good shots though, but this was one of my favorites. ; I thought the little blue flowers added a nice splash of extra color that cranked the cuteness factor up a bit.
I call this next one a persuasive argument in favor of the bigma mark 2. ; Every single one of these shots was taken with the 400mm F5.6. ; I gotta say, it performed remarkably. ; Even in exceptionally dark environments where point and shoots would fear to tread, the not all that fast lens still produced workable results, admittedly either on a tripod or using the tripod as a crude monopod. ; But, well, see.. sometimes 400 was a bit too much. ; As was the case here. ; This little fennec fox was out and about and at first I didn't bother trying to shoot it, but it started stretching and I knew I had to try. ; Just for the record, this is ISO 12,800, F5.6 at 1/60 of a second. ; I'm darned pleased with the results, I can't believe I got a sharp(ish) image of the fennec with the 400 in that simulated night environment.
But if only I could have zoomed out a little bit. ; I know the framing is shot, I know the image just irritates you with everything being cropped off. ; The bigma could have gotten the whole fox, and the IS probably would have still been useful when shooting on a sort of improvised monopod.
I'm not giving up the 400, no way. ; I've become rather attached to it. ; But let's say I can understand the utility in having a lens that can zoom from 50 to 500mm. ; I carry enough lenses to swap in the field and get pretty much every animal at the zoo, but once I've been out for an hour or two I start getting tired and hot and I just don't exactly feel motivated to take the time and effort to do the swapping. ; I'd have to double check on the minimum focus distance of the bigma mark 2 and compare it to my current best lens for closeups if I can get close enough to not need a telephoto, but it may well be able to cover pretty much all of my targets at the zoo.
I'll be back with my 70-200 mounted to spend some quality time with the foxes.
Next up we have a baby meerkat with an adult. ; Apparently the appropriate term for a young meerkat is "kit". ; I think it's something like two or three months old. ; Okay, so in meerkat terms not really a baby anymore. ; All I have to say here is that I overestimated the depth of field of 400mm F5.6 at that comparatively close distance. ; But at least the kit is the one in focus.
Finally, we have clouded leopard! ; It's always a good day if I can see a clouded leopard. ; I often never see it, this individual seems to be quite shy. ; I almost didn't get this, I saw it out and excitedly began to get set up for a tripod shot. ; Mounting the tripod ring, pulling out the cable release, etc. ; By the time I turned my attention back to the leopard it was moving off to a box, you can see it in the background of this shot. ; I don't think it liked my presence. ; I muttered something about it being a cruel, vicious beast to get me all excited and then run away, but went on to shoot a smaller feline in an adjacent enclosure. ; Just to be sure I went back to the leopard to check on it and it was out of the box, just barely.
All in all I got shots of it when it was in two different locations, this is perhaps the best. ; Still not great quality, there were strong shadow issues where part of the leopard always ended up too dark or else part was too bright. ; But I GOT IT, just getting it on camera is an achievement.
My dream is to get a good enough shot of this one to enter it into the photography contest with a note swearing that I didn't use a flash to get the image (another simulated night time environment, it's DARK in there, you can barely make out it out with your eyes, I kept having to point it out to people who came by as I was shooting it). ; I dream of getting a shot good enough that I'd have to provide the RAW files to prove I was using natural light.
The biggest problem isn't the dark. ; The biggest problem is just finding it in a better location. ; You can't even see how spectacular clouded leopards are from this shot. ; Their spots are much larger and don't really look like those of most other leopards. ; I don't know if it has a resting spot that gives me the kind of angle I need of it.
So, another great day of shooting at the zoo. ; Lots of other photographers were out too. ; I saw at least one 100-400, what looked like a 70-200 F2.8 with a teleconverter, and one of those huge long telephoto lenses, maybe the 600mm F4.
I saw something interesting. ; When I was heading to the bear exhibit I crossed paths with what looked like a camera crew heading back after doing some shooting. ; There were maybe three people carrying cameras mounted to tripods. ; The first two were carrying what I'd classify as either prosumer video cameras or perhaps outright pro-spec but lightweight gear. ; The third had a DSLR with one of those things attached to the LCD screen so you can put your eye up to it like a viewfinder. ; I'll bet that means it was being used for shooting video. ; My first sighting of such a setup. ; I'm sure it won't be my last.
The bears were not really cooperating for the camera, besides it'll take time to get used to shooting them in this new environment. ; When they behave it should be good, it seems like it gives me open air (no barriers of any kind between me and them) line of sight to them with a comparatively low angle that should make for dramatic shots, and there's also a viewing window into the polar bear pool.
However, to start off with the wolves were still good to me. ; I never get tired of shooting them, even if I do largely return with the same shots every time. ; For this one, notice the shaved patch on the front leg. ; I think I know what that is, it seems one of their wolves was given something like a CAT scan a little while back, I'm guessing maybe they sedated it for the procedure and the leg is where they put the IV line in.
I want opinions on this shot. ; What do you guys think? ; Okay, aside from the shaved patch, it ruins the illusion of this being a wild setting, that I know. ; But otherwise how does it look? ; I thought it was kind of unique, the lighting at least is not like what I've captured before. ; But as is too often the case I have no sense of it being better or worse.. just.. different.
When I saw this next little fellow I knew I was going to be sticking by him (or her) for a bit. ; I can honestly say I suffered for this little guy, kneeling down to get a lower angle really did a number on my knees. ; I got a lot of good shots though, but this was one of my favorites. ; I thought the little blue flowers added a nice splash of extra color that cranked the cuteness factor up a bit.
I call this next one a persuasive argument in favor of the bigma mark 2. ; Every single one of these shots was taken with the 400mm F5.6. ; I gotta say, it performed remarkably. ; Even in exceptionally dark environments where point and shoots would fear to tread, the not all that fast lens still produced workable results, admittedly either on a tripod or using the tripod as a crude monopod. ; But, well, see.. sometimes 400 was a bit too much. ; As was the case here. ; This little fennec fox was out and about and at first I didn't bother trying to shoot it, but it started stretching and I knew I had to try. ; Just for the record, this is ISO 12,800, F5.6 at 1/60 of a second. ; I'm darned pleased with the results, I can't believe I got a sharp(ish) image of the fennec with the 400 in that simulated night environment.
But if only I could have zoomed out a little bit. ; I know the framing is shot, I know the image just irritates you with everything being cropped off. ; The bigma could have gotten the whole fox, and the IS probably would have still been useful when shooting on a sort of improvised monopod.
I'm not giving up the 400, no way. ; I've become rather attached to it. ; But let's say I can understand the utility in having a lens that can zoom from 50 to 500mm. ; I carry enough lenses to swap in the field and get pretty much every animal at the zoo, but once I've been out for an hour or two I start getting tired and hot and I just don't exactly feel motivated to take the time and effort to do the swapping. ; I'd have to double check on the minimum focus distance of the bigma mark 2 and compare it to my current best lens for closeups if I can get close enough to not need a telephoto, but it may well be able to cover pretty much all of my targets at the zoo.
I'll be back with my 70-200 mounted to spend some quality time with the foxes.
Next up we have a baby meerkat with an adult. ; Apparently the appropriate term for a young meerkat is "kit". ; I think it's something like two or three months old. ; Okay, so in meerkat terms not really a baby anymore. ; All I have to say here is that I overestimated the depth of field of 400mm F5.6 at that comparatively close distance. ; But at least the kit is the one in focus.
Finally, we have clouded leopard! ; It's always a good day if I can see a clouded leopard. ; I often never see it, this individual seems to be quite shy. ; I almost didn't get this, I saw it out and excitedly began to get set up for a tripod shot. ; Mounting the tripod ring, pulling out the cable release, etc. ; By the time I turned my attention back to the leopard it was moving off to a box, you can see it in the background of this shot. ; I don't think it liked my presence. ; I muttered something about it being a cruel, vicious beast to get me all excited and then run away, but went on to shoot a smaller feline in an adjacent enclosure. ; Just to be sure I went back to the leopard to check on it and it was out of the box, just barely.
All in all I got shots of it when it was in two different locations, this is perhaps the best. ; Still not great quality, there were strong shadow issues where part of the leopard always ended up too dark or else part was too bright. ; But I GOT IT, just getting it on camera is an achievement.
My dream is to get a good enough shot of this one to enter it into the photography contest with a note swearing that I didn't use a flash to get the image (another simulated night time environment, it's DARK in there, you can barely make out it out with your eyes, I kept having to point it out to people who came by as I was shooting it). ; I dream of getting a shot good enough that I'd have to provide the RAW files to prove I was using natural light.
The biggest problem isn't the dark. ; The biggest problem is just finding it in a better location. ; You can't even see how spectacular clouded leopards are from this shot. ; Their spots are much larger and don't really look like those of most other leopards. ; I don't know if it has a resting spot that gives me the kind of angle I need of it.
So, another great day of shooting at the zoo. ; Lots of other photographers were out too. ; I saw at least one 100-400, what looked like a 70-200 F2.8 with a teleconverter, and one of those huge long telephoto lenses, maybe the 600mm F4.
I saw something interesting. ; When I was heading to the bear exhibit I crossed paths with what looked like a camera crew heading back after doing some shooting. ; There were maybe three people carrying cameras mounted to tripods. ; The first two were carrying what I'd classify as either prosumer video cameras or perhaps outright pro-spec but lightweight gear. ; The third had a DSLR with one of those things attached to the LCD screen so you can put your eye up to it like a viewfinder. ; I'll bet that means it was being used for shooting video. ; My first sighting of such a setup. ; I'm sure it won't be my last.
