A trip to Sydney's Taronga zoo

Went to Sydney's Taronga zoo yesterday with DP Review forum members, Jimbob and Ron(Var1). Last time I was there was January 2006 and they have made some excellent renovations since then and it is well worth the visit if you have not seen it in a while.

Most of the following images were taken at higher ISO's like 800 and I can say that the higher ISO image quality is excellent from the K20D. Also, I took some Continuous AF shots of the Red Panda as it was almsot always on the move and at the time of taking the shots I was thinking to myself that they will not turn out at all as the Panda was moving fast and even with ISO800 there was little hope of anything worth keeping. Well, was I *pleasantly* surprised when I viewed them on the computer screen and they were sharp! Looks like low light AF C works quite well!

K20D DA*300 f4 @ f6.3 1/200sec ISO1000. Hand held.
This was taken through small cage wire and I therefore had to work on it to get reasonable contrast and a decent result. I like the way the birds were cuddled up together. :-)



K20D DA*300 f4 @ f5.6 1/50sec ISO800. Hand held.



K20D DA*300 f4 @ f5.6 1/100sec ISO800. Hand held.
This was one of the AF C shots.



K20D + DA*300 f4 @ f5.6 1/50sec ISO200. Hand held.



K20D + FA*80-200 f2.8 @ f5.6 and 120mm 1/80sec ISO160. Hand held.



K20D + DA*300 f4 @ f5.6 1/160sec ISO800. Hand held.



K20D + DA*300 f4 @ f5.6 1/250sec ISO800. Hand held.



K20D + DA*300 f4 @ f5.6 1/320sec ISO800. Hand held.



K20D + DA*300 f4 @ f6.3 1/50sec ISO800. Hand held.
I bet you've never seen a Koala yawn. Considering they sleep for about 22 hours a day it's a wonder we see them do *anything*!!



K20D + DA*50-135 f2.8 @ f5.6 and 50mm 1/50sec ISO800. Hand held.



K20D + DA*300 f4 @ f5.6 1/50sec ISO200. Hand held.

[roentarre]

Wow, Lance. You really have a good use of this gem! This thread makes me change my mind about Da* 300mm f4 (I was thinking that this prime seems a little soft in the centre with slightly more chalky bokeh comparing to Fa* 300 or F* version)

I know you do selective sharpening with one of the best technique around. But the images really shine after a little touch up and I am now convinced to pursue this lens.

I saw the bokeh of the background net having a little tram track appearance. Is that the result of increasing saturation or layer blending? If it is, I am more reaasured of this lens being a very capable lens give very good raw original.


You certainly have more animals in Toronga zoo than melbourne. That yawning from koala is certainly a winner! So cute.

[Damn Brit]

Very nice Lance, I'm glad you managed to get some shots that didn't show the limits of their enclosures.
I like the Koala (animals get tired too), the second chimp pic (looks like he/she was posing for Rodin's 'The Thinker' and the lioness portrait (something has caught her eye).
Gary

[KrisK10D]

These are wonderful shots, Lance. Agree 100% with Brit, great work keeping the enclosures hidden. Love the bored Koala but the 2nd Chimp, looking into the sun, is such a nicely lit and exposed shot it's only bettered by the eye contact with the Gorilla in the last shot.

Have been trying to get to the zoo for 2 months... hope I get results half as good as these

[Mechan1k]

Aw waht .... I missed out on this one ... bugger.
I have been busy with work that i doubt i could have made it anyway.

These shots have come out well indeed .. escpecially the red panda.

[Lance B]

Originally Posted by roentarre

Wow, Lance. You really have a good use of this gem! This thread makes me change my mind about Da* 300mm f4 (I was thinking that this prime seems a little soft in the centre with slightly more chalky bokeh comparing to Fa* 300 or F* version)

I know you do selective sharpening with one of the best technique around. But the images really shine after a little touch up and I am now convinced to pursue this lens.

I saw the bokeh of the background net having a little tram track appearance. Is that the result of increasing saturation or layer blending? If it is, I am more reaasured of this lens being a very capable lens give very good raw original.


You certainly have more animals in Toronga zoo than melbourne. That yawning from koala is certainly a winner! So cute.

James,

Thank you very much for your very nice comments, mate.

I cannot recommend the DA*300 highly enough. It really is a true * lens!

Do you mean the net in the snow leopard shot? If it is, then it is a result of the way the lens behaves with that *particular background in this particular situation* as all I did was minor adjustments in post process. I think there may have been highlights on the cage wire as it was a shiny metal and would be reflecting light and creating a highliught there. Generally I find the bokeh most pleasing and certainly now worse than the F*/FA*, in fact quite possibly better.

[momtographer]

the color on the 4th picture is amazing!

[Lance B]

Originally Posted by Damn Brit

Very nice Lance, I'm glad you managed to get some shots that didn't show the limits of their enclosures.
I like the Koala (animals get tired too), the second chimp pic (looks like he/she was posing for Rodin's 'The Thinker' and the lioness portrait (something has caught her eye).
Gary

Thank you very much for your nice comments, Gary.

The first shot was through cage wire, but the wire itself was quite thick with smallish opennings, so I was quite pleased with being able to recover the shot as well as I did. The idea in this sort of situation is to shoot with as long a lens as possible and as large an aperture as possible.

The lion and tiger photos were through glass, so the technique here is to get right up against the glass to remove/reduce reflections as much as possible.

The snow leopard had not netting or glass, so there were no distractions. The red panda, chimps and gorillas were shot across moats, so there were no foreground distractions there either.

The lizard was shot through glass and the same applied as with the lion shots.

I generally like to wait around so that the animals will do a pose so as to get a reasonable shot without them looking as though they are stuffed animals.

[Lance B]

Originally Posted by KrisK10D

These are wonderful shots, Lance. Agree 100% with Brit, great work keeping the enclosures hidden. Love the bored Koala but the 2nd Chimp, looking into the sun, is such a nicely lit and exposed shot it's only bettered by the eye contact with the Gorilla in the last shot.

Thank you very much for your very nice comments, Kris.

I like to wait and see if I can get a good pose from an animal rather than a normal static pose. Sometimes the wait pays off.

Have been trying to get to the zoo for 2 months... hope I get results half as good as these

If I had known I would have asked if you would have liked to join us. I am always looking for candidates to go on a photoshoot with and so if you are ever interested in a photoshoot, please let me know. I am more than willing to go to the zoo again at some time if you would like to go.

[Lance B]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Aw waht .... I missed out on this one ... bugger.
I have been busy with work that i doubt i could have made it anyway.

These shots have come out well indeed .. escpecially the red panda.

Simon,

Thank you for your verry nice comments as well, mate.

As I said to Kris, I am more than willing to go to the zoo again, so maybe we can make another date to go there.

[Lance B]

Originally Posted by momtographer

the color on the 4th picture is amazing!

Thank you for your very nice comment.

Tigers have great colouring, don't they?

[J.Scott]

What great pictures Lance! The combination of K20D and the DA* 300 is truly a winner. Plus it doesn't hurt to have a keen photographer clicking the shutter!

I was considering purchasing the new DA 55-300mm but I am convinced now to hold off and save up for this amazing prime instead. Some one mentioned that you do some PP work but is there much done in the way of increasing the colour, saturation and sharpness? However much you use it seems like just the right amount.

Thanks for sharing.

[daacon]

Wonderful series Lance and I agree, these all could be taken in the wild. I love the Leopard? short as well as the Koala yawning. 22 hours of sleep Wow even my old dog is awake more than that.

[Lance B]

Originally Posted by J.Scott

What great pictures Lance! The combination of K20D and the DA* 300 is truly a winner. Plus it doesn't hurt to have a keen photographer clicking the shutter!

I was considering purchasing the new DA 55-300mm but I am convinced now to hold off and save up for this amazing prime instead. Some one mentioned that you do some PP work but is there much done in the way of increasing the colour, saturation and sharpness? However much you use it seems like just the right amount.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank you very much for your very nice comments. Much appreciated.

My workflow is:
Shot in RAW, then converted to TIFFs in Capture One 4 adjusting curves and a small amount of saturation. Where necessary, I may adjust WB and a few other minor details, like unlevel horizons etc. I remove all sharpening from the RAW end in Capture One 4. Sharpening is applied at the last step before saving for web in Photoshop.

In Photoshop, I *may* use Shadow/Highlight, I may crop where necessary, and then reduce for web view and then sharpen. Lastly I save as jpeg.

I also calibrate my monitor.

Thank you for taking the time to look and comment.

[Lance B]

Originally Posted by daacon

Wonderful series Lance and I agree, these all could be taken in the wild. I love the Leopard? short as well as the Koala yawning. 22 hours of sleep Wow even my old dog is awake more than that.

LOL.

Thank you for your very nice comments, Dave. Much appreciated.

Thank you also for taking the time to look and comment.