Zebra
May, 2013Views
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Awards
Zenith Award
Legendary Award
Featured
Contest Finalist in Baby Animals Photo Contest
Peer Award
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Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
Superior Skill
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken during a photography workshop at Safari West, a wild game preserve in Santa Rosa, CA. Our instructor was John Burgess, a local photojournalist.Time
The photo was taken on our first photo shoot in the early evening, not long before the sunset. We were shooting from the safari buggy, since most of the animals roam free on the 400+ acres.Lighting
The group of zebras was in a grove of trees so the lighting was a bit challenging with the late afternoon sun streaming through the trees. I was fortunate to capture a moment when enough sunlight came through the branches to light the zebra mom and her baby.Equipment
The photo was taken with a Canon 5DMkIII, 70-200mm f/2.8L lens with a 1.4x teleconverter, at 210mm, f/5, 1/1000, IS0 400. I was using a monopod to stabilize the camera.Inspiration
A few of the zebras were running around playing, but this zebra mom was back in the shadows protecting her baby. It was taken in the spring when a lot of animals in the park had babies. I caught this shot just as our safari buggy was leaving the zebra location. I thought the baby looked so sweet and was happy that I was able to capture the shot.Editing
Minimal processing was done to the raw file in Lightroom - a slight crop and minor exposure and white balance adjustments.In my camera bag
My equipment includes a Canon 5DMkII full frame DSLR and a Fujifilm X-T1 mirrorless camera. I have multiple lenses for each camera. For portrait work, I also use speedlights, a monolight and various light modifiers (softboxes, parabolic umbrellas, etc.). When using lighting equipment, I shoot in manual exposure mode and use a Sekonic light meter.Feedback
Being very familiar and comfortable with your equipment helps to react quickly when you need to capture a shot in a fleeting moment. Assess your available light (when not controlling the light using artificial lighting) to not only get the right exposure, but also to use the direction of the light to create the right combination of light and shadow to give the photo visual interest. A good subject can look pretty boring if the lighting is flat.
