Back to the zoo ...

[xjken99]

Went back to the zoo yesterday but, this time I took my Canon T70 and a 500mm lens with a 2x tele converter. This guy seemed pretty content chewing on a stick.



Here's another one.

[xjken99]

First off I realize the quality of the pics is not that great but, the 500mm lens is a rather cheap one my wife bought me for Christmas about fifteen years ago. This was actually the first time I have used it for wildlife. It was mounted on a tripod and I used a hand held meter. I was having a lot of trouble with the lens moving while I tried to press the shutter, so I set the timer. I realized later that the the ring that attaches the lens to the camera was loose so I am not sure if that made the shaking worse. The only post production I did to either of these was to sharpen them and to crop them. Unfortunately the bright sun on the wall behind him does not help the pictures. Any tips or comments on what you mite of tried would be greatly appreciated.

[cameron665]

Hi xjken99, your pics look a fraction over exposed to me, it may be the scan though. What film and scanner did you use? Did you use a reflected or incident light reading?

[xjken99]

I did not scan them, when they were processed I had them put them on a disc. I then loaded them onto Photobucket and sharpened and cropped them there. I used a incident
meter, do you think a reflected meter would have done a better job? I was actually pretty far away.

[Grandpaw]

Would you mind if I tried a level adjustment and played with this a bit? I'm still learning how to use photoshop but I would like to see what I could do, Jeff

[xjken99]

Absolutely, I would also be curious to see what you can do.

[Grandpaw]

I am still learning how to use Photoshop and more experienced members could do a much better job but this is my quick attempt at it, Jeff

[xjken99]

Nice job, that does look a lot better.

[cameron665]

Hi xjken99, I would have used probably used an incident reading also. I tend to find it a better measure to work with. Sometimes I take both incident and reflected and then try and work out a correct exposure. Remember both are giving you exposure for 18% grey and you can over or under expose using your judgement, depending on the subject.

[xjken99]

Thanks for the tips Cameron665, I hope to get back to the zoo in the next couple of weeks and try this again. I have the lens tightened up and I will play around with meter a little more. Looking back I am not sure I was even standing in the same light as the tiger which I know would have screwed up the exposure. Thanks to everyone for the help.