mstoltz1022 PRO
mstoltz1022
sloth in the spotlight

sloth in the spotlight



cameraPENTAX K-7

settings Aperture f/4.5 ISO 3200 Shutter 1/80 

upload_dateSep, 2012

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2093

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Awards

Staff Favorite
Absolute Masterpiece
gman176 meganholman Aeri MF-SoHo PORNrasanaga jennmoran mistymcnaughton +9
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marjan edandaniphone CharlVermaak BillPreece JulianGwilson gauravgupta diane_hallam_4401 +4
Top Choice
natscott morgandelsompss cherylmyerscotter AndrewNygren cpdoogan Photoswest Barillas +2
Exceptional Contrast
leetomkow Tomek judyhall-folde hollyh PowerUp snowdon CoranGleed
Outstanding Creativity
sarahschupp mikeherms dorothypierini-rodgers NatureLoverJJWal karen_paul_0716
Peer Award
ShannonLM ToadsInTheHole GDD79 thatblackandwhitelabby photoABSTRACTION
Magnificent Capture
Steve-n-Ning GermanRuizPhoto
Jaw Dropping
bocinascompu klukowski

Emotions

Impressed
Aeri meganholman

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31 Comments | Report
j_oconnor84
 
j_oconnor84 September 18, 2012
outstanding photo
angeldreams27
 
angeldreams27 September 20, 2012
Very nice shot!
CoranGleed
 
CoranGleed September 21, 2012
great images
ManCorMac PRO+
 
ManCorMac September 24, 2012
Nice portrait.
rturnbow Ultimate
 
rturnbow September 24, 2012
Great pose and capture!
jenbmama
 
jenbmama September 24, 2012
awesome sloth portrait! I had no idea what a sloth face looked like, I can imagine their shaggy bodies and long-clawed toes hanging from a tree branch - but this is an awesome capture of a little-seen face in great light :)
domainsurajit
 
domainsurajit September 26, 2012
such beautiful light!!
desertpagan
 
desertpagan September 26, 2012
Very nice capture!
melissa3339
 
melissa3339 October 01, 2012
Great shot!
kidlinh
 
kidlinh November 22, 2012
Amazing!
Redcow
 
Redcow December 06, 2012
Beautiful!
carolcardillo PRO+
 
carolcardillo December 10, 2012
Yay!!!! Congratulations on your win, Peg!!!!!!!!!!
tsambaproductions
 
tsambaproductions December 10, 2012
congrats
Neman_aj
 
Neman_aj December 11, 2012
So good. I love the light. The movement, great.
WolfEyesPhotography
 
WolfEyesPhotography December 14, 2012
Amazing...
ashley_christine
 
ashley_christine January 04, 2013
beautiful picture!
stillmovingphotographs
 
stillmovingphotographs January 15, 2013
great shot
FMueller
 
FMueller January 15, 2013
Nice shot!
nitti
 
nitti January 19, 2013
Perfect lighting
GordonD
 
GordonD January 29, 2013
Congratulations, what a cool image!
carolcardillo PRO+
 
carolcardillo March 27, 2013
Back to vote!
snowdon PRO
 
snowdon March 29, 2013
I love these animals, they are so misnamed but they do not complain. Good image showing feeling. Voted
photosue50
 
photosue50 May 12, 2013
Beautiful shot!!
PowerUp PRO+
 
PowerUp May 17, 2013
One of my favourite animals and you captured it beautifully.
adoptedone
 
adoptedone July 18, 2013
Great capture.
carolcardillo PRO+
 
carolcardillo August 06, 2013
Came back to vote in Monochrome!
Tabitha7024
 
Tabitha7024 September 10, 2013
this is the most inspirational sloth I have ever seen
NatureLoverJJWal PRO+
 
NatureLoverJJWal January 18, 2014
voted
diane_hallam_4401
 
diane_hallam_4401 February 07, 2014
fantastic shot :)
clareparsons
 
clareparsons August 15, 2014
just wonderful. the expression is stellar. made me think of muppets in my childhood....
RoadKing1985 PRO
 
RoadKing1985 January 20, 2015
Where did you take this pic!? WOW!? So Awesome! I grew up with these beautiful survivors in Panama!:) Beautifully captured. He looks like he is about to direct a concert haha:) Thanks for sharing!:) Good luck in contest:)

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Behind The Lens

Location
This photo was taken at the Buffalo Zoo.
Time
We like to get to the zoo at opening usually mid morning.
Lighting
Since the sloth is more of a nocturnal animal, the lighting in this exhibit is very difficult to get a good hand held shot. Who wants to drag a tripod through a zoo? I just happened to be there when the sloth had his eyes open and was staring up into the only real light in the exhibit. I shot the photo with an aperture of 4.5 at 1/80 with my ISO set at 3200.
Equipment
This was taken with my Pentax K7 and my 80 to 320 Pentax lens.
Inspiration
I always get a season pass to our Zoo and go there often. This sloth is usually up in his corner under the spotlight but is usually curled up and asleep. This is a shot I have been trying to take for years and just happened to be there when he had his eyes open.
Editing
Post processing included a crop, sharpening and playing with the lightness/ contrast settings in Photoshop CS5. I also resized the photo and minimized the grain present from the 3200 ISO. This is one of my most favorite zoo pix.
In my camera bag
When going to the zoo I usually take my entire bag. This consists of my Pentax K7, a kit lens and a medium length Tamron lens. I also take a 100 mm Pentax macro, which is the perfect length for portraiture as well, my 80 to 320 Pentax zoom and I now take a recently acquired Pentax fixed 200mm f2.8 lens - a perfect lens for zoo shots under any lighting conditions.
Feedback
As always my advice to zoo shooters is to take what the animals give you. Don't visit with any preconceived shots in mind. By doing that you close your creative mind, you force your creativity into a box, and you will more often than not miss that one great shot that makes a perfect day of shooting. Not every animal is cooperative every day of the week.

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