International Agriculture Show

The Salon de l'Agriculture in Paris is a French institution. I believe it's only beaten by the Motor Show in terms of crowds.

I went down there last Sunday and did some pictures of the stars. The unhappy horse in the last picture is my fault. I went up and looked it in the eye the way I usually do with cats, just to say hello, and it went all shy

All pictures D300 at 3200 ISO with 50mm f1.8 and 35mm f1.8

What a marvelous temperament these show animals have. Nice series Charles. I particularly like 1 & 2.

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Originally Posted by hminx

What a marvelous temperament these show animals have. Nice series Charles. I particularly like 1 & 2.

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These are champion beasts. Their owners are just a few feet away, watching their every move. The owner's interaction with the animals is just as interesting as the animals themselves.

- Cows and bulls don't mind anything except that sometimes it gets too hot for them
- Sheep turn their back
- Pigs are only interested in eating and sleeping
- Goats are always trying to wheedle food off the visitors
- Donkeys don't care
- Horses are by far the most reactive. It depends on the character of the animal. One of the big shire horses was annoyed because the others were getting saddled up and not him and he was tapping his hoof against the stall just as I was doing my picture

Charles,

Thanks for posting these. Excellent photos. I also enjoyed reading about the animals - very interesting.

My favorites were the first and the last - beautiful shots, both of them. Also, the 2nd one with the little girl. Well, what can I say, they are all fine images. Interesting post.

Liz

Very good, and interesting to know how popular the show is.
I'm with Liz in the 1st and last are my favs. Even though you might have spooked the horse :) it made for a very interesting pose especially with shadow there.

nice to see these photos

for the subjects, and for seeing the D300 at high ISO

any particular reason for the b&w images ?

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Originally Posted by armando_m

nice to see these photos

for the subjects, and for seeing the D300 at high ISO

any particular reason for the b&w images ?

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The show happens in a series of large halls under a mixture of light sources. The abstract of the cow's back is bright orange from the sodium light just above. I do a conversion to B&W in NX2 because I can't always get something natural-looking in colour.

I've always shot this show and similar events in black-and-white. Most of the time I'm actually shooting people (can't publish) and colour can be a distraction, particularly clothes. I prefer the neutral look of black and white, and I can go further in correcting bad light in NX2.

Yes the D300 is very good at 3200 ISO. The finest detail is lost but otherwise it looks very clean.

Nicely done.
Love the B&W and the cow butts made me chuckly.
thanks Charles

Don't care for the first one. Happy to have animals slaughtered for my pleasure night and day, but not so much into sado masochistic images of them waiting for it. Despite that it is a nice shot and the ones after are well done too....

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Originally Posted by daq7

Don't care for the first one. Happy to have animals slaughtered for my pleasure night and day, but not so much into sado masochistic images of them waiting for it. Despite that it is a nice shot and the ones after are well done too....

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The big bull is likely to go back home covered in glory and have a long career as a stud producing others like him. But finally - he will finish up on someone's dinner plate.

I go down to the Salon de l'Agriculture mostly to eat. There's a hall dedicated to restaurants from the different regions. I take a camera with the right gear as a matter of course but I didn't really put any effort into it this time. I was surprised at how good the results were.



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