A Day at the Ft Worth Zoo

Took the family to the Ft Worth Zoo yesterday afternoon. I found myself drawn to the kitty cats, but there were a few other subjects that were fun.

The rest of the set can be found here:

http://www.guapozx.com​/ftworthzoo/

Very nice.

metjbb

Some really great shots here. I love the big cats.

The only thing missing is catchlight in their eyes. But some great shots anyway.

The cats are cool, but I love the gorilla shot! I'm fasinated by them!

2nd, 6th & 7th shots! great look on those.

ajosteve wrote in post #6683528
The cats are cool, but I love the gorilla shot! I'm fasinated by them!

He did look straight at me, but I think some of the impact of the shot is lost a bit without the whites of his eyes:

Nice series of shots

Maybe it's just me, but I think a photographer when taking zoo shots should try to remove all human-manufactured artifacts as much as possible. The gorilla leaning against a concrete wall just looks sad. The same with the tiger, the leopard next to the fence, and the female lion and cub against the stone wall. The all seem to have the look that says, "How do I bust out of this joint." The cougar is the most natural-looking, although there appears to be an artifact from a chain link fence.

This is a great series. I recently bough the 70-200 f4 IS and I love it.

Since I often do "zoo" shots, Joe's comment really hits home. I usually try to compose away from human elements also but it's just not always possible.

Good shoot Guapo.

It's hard to find zoo's that don't have walls and fences and the animals don't always cooperate on where they walk, sit, or swing. What is a photographer to do?

Wait until an animal moves away from a distracting background ($)
Visit a wildlife park with its more natural environment for the animals ($$)
Travel to the biggest parks on the African continent ($$$)

joedlh wrote in post #6684925
Maybe it's just me, but I think a photographer when taking zoo shots should try to remove all human-manufactured artifacts as much as possible. The gorilla leaning against a concrete wall just looks sad. The same with the tiger, the leopard next to the fence, and the female lion and cub against the stone wall. The all seem to have the look that says, "How do I bust out of this joint." The cougar is the most natural-looking, although there appears to be an artifact from a chain link fence.

I totally agree with everything you've said. Unfortunately, the subjects were unwilling to cooperate with my instructions. With a 3 year old and a 1.5 year old tugging at my heels, waiting them out wasn't an option. I simply had to get the shots I could within the limitations presented to me. I'm pretty new to all this, so I looked at this as an opportunity to get some good practice in. The pointers and critique are welcome.

The cougar shot was through the chain link fence, and the artifacts are actually in front of the cougar. I suppose I could spend some more time in CS3 blending out those artifacts to the sides. I was pretty pleased to get a fairly clear image of the cat itself. It was one of my favorites from the day.

Guapo wrote in post #6681069
Took the family to the Ft Worth Zoo yesterday afternoon. I found myself drawn to the kitty cats, but there were a few other subjects that were fun.

The rest of the set can be found here:

http://www.guapozx.com​/ftworthzoo/

Love the Ft. Worth Zoo. Used to go there alot before I moved to FL. Grew up in that place in the 80's and 90's. Great set you posted.

Beautiful series.
thanks for sharing.

Some great pics! I just posted some from FW Zoo as well...love that place!