Saturday, February 21, 2009

Miles


The BAPC photo club conducted it’s first field trip of ’09 today with a trip to the Houston Zoo. In a new format for the zoo they arranged for a Photography Day where photographers would be allowed into the zoo an hour before opening. In addition to the early access our host, Mr. Rick Ellis, also provided a continental breakfast and a quest speaker Mr. Paul Swen [not necessarily in order of importance!] The weather was suitably mild and overcast which helped to make the morning an excellent outing.

This shot is my early favorite. It’s of Miles, the zoo’s new baby Masai giraffe, born just a few weeks ago and one of its trainers.


Tech: Oly E-3, Zuiko 50-200 w/1.4 Converter @ 283mm, f5.6 @ 1/800 and ISO 200, Aperture Priority Post Processing: Adjusted Exposure, Clarity, and Saturation in Camera Raw>Opened in CS3>Duplicate Background>Levels Adjustment>Merge Visible>High Pass Sharpen>Merge Visible>Topaz Adjust “Simplify”>Lens Distort Vignette

3 comments:

Larry J. Patrick said...

Nice shot. To me this photo is all about the relationship between the woman and the giraffe. You really "got" the affection that she has for the animals. I do not think you could have done any better.

Good work.

Anonymous said...

Since I was there when you took this I know how difficult it was getting a decent shot, let alone a great one, given the surroundings.

The cables, wires, metal posts and other people make it a challenge to come away with something that conveys the moment. You did exceptionally well to capture the emotional connection between the animal and its handler.

My only suggestion is to work the exposure a little. The baby giraffe and handler come across as a tad too dark (my opinion). There is separation from the background due mainly to the difference in colors, but I would like to see them a little brighter, not so muted.

DHaass

Larry said...

Thanks Larry and Doug. Doug, I'll work the exposure a little and see what happens.