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mono jag



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upload_dateSep, 2015

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2 Comments |
sandmania
 
sandmania April 06, 2016
Superbly captured and processed.
Byronfairphotography PRO+
 
Byronfairphotography September 23, 2017
Great B&W

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Tags

#Big cat #predator #jaguar #mono #black and white #zoo
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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken at South Lakes Zoo in the lake district of England. I love this zoo, as the big cats enclosures are very camera friendly.

Time

This was taken in the early afternoon, but I'd made sure it was a weekday, outside of school holidays (September) - this meant that there were very few members of the public bopping about - giving much better access to the enclosures.

Lighting

I used natural lighting for this shot, the day was overcast interspersed with very bright sunbursts. I took quite a few shots waiting for something special, this was one of the last of the series, when the sun came out and produced a dappled effect across the frame - well worth the wait.

Equipment

This was a handheld shot with my trusty Canon 70D, with my new Tamron 70 - 300mm zoom, which was the whole reason for the visit to the zoo, to try it out. No other equipment, filters, etc were used. I crouched down to get on the cats eye level and used my knee to rest the camera on to enable me to take a solid stable photo (use yourself and the environment - tripods/monopods are not always required).

Inspiration

The cat locked eyes on myself and my friend as we passed the enclosure, I knew if i worked fast, and he kept his eyes on us I'd be able to capture an amazing portrait. Fortunately he played along and I managed to get quite a few shots over 10 minutes while waiting for the sun to come out to play.

Editing

I didn't really need to do much to this shot. I dropped it into lightroom and blurred out the fence in the background, which was a little distracting. I then manually removed the colour, leaving a little yellow as the mono convert function on lightroom can sometimes be a little harsh. I sharpened the cats face and eyes, adding a little extra contrast to the face markings just to make it pop a little more, then framed the entire shot with vignette.

In my camera bag

Usually I pack my 70D, a spare battery (this is important..after traveling to somewhere and getting into the day the last thing you need is to run out of power), tripod, and mini tripod. My filter pack, which consists of a polarizer, variable ND filter and now my ND10k.. I'm lucky in that the two lenses I carry both fit the same filters, these are the 16-35mm f/4L, and 24-105 F/4L both by Canon - the combination of these can cover most eventualities unless I specifically am doing distance work I rarely carry my big zoom lenses. That said this was one of the days I was carrying a zoom,I had my brand new Tamron 70-300mm with me, as I wanted to give it a thorough try out.

Feedback

When trying to shot big cats at the zoo, remember they are just like pet cats.. they love the warmth and sunshine, try to go on days where they are likely to be out enjoying the sunshine. Be patient, and try to go outside of popular days / hours or you run the risk of being bumped. Don't forget to move about and get down on to their eye level, this small thing can really add pop to a shot. If the zoo does feeding shows these can provide great action shots, but also remember the cats will be lazing around post feed, providing perfect static subjects.

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