Standing Tall and Proud
One of Chester Zoo's incredible Jaguars
One of Chester Zoo's incredible Jaguars
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Aug, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken several years back (Oct 24, 2011) at Chester Zoo down in England. I had finally, after saving up for quite some time, purchased myself a telephoto lens and this was the first time I really got a good chance to use it and this guy just happened to pose just at the right time!Time
The time of day wasn't great for taking photos of the animals really. It was just after mid-day and overcast (classic British weather) so it was proving a struggle at times to get everything right. Rather than letting that put me off trying to get a great photo of the Jaguar I just gave myself some time to wait, watch and hope that the sun would make an appearance.Lighting
Unfortunately, and predictably, the sun never once came out. So I figured the only way I can get a truly decent shot of the Jaguar was to hope that I could get it against the grass and trees in order to give me a great contrast between the subject and the background. With the sky being overcast there was little in terms of sunlight to work with so I figured that I'd used colour in order to try and offset this.Equipment
The photo was taken by hand, no tripod or flash. I use a Canon EOS 500D and this specific photo was taken with the Canon EF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 IS USM. This specific photo I shot at 1/640, F/8.0 with an ISO 1600, though at that point these numbers meant nothing to me as I was still relatively new to photography and still figuring out a lot of the functionalities of my camera.Inspiration
Its hard to talk about the inspiration behind this photo as it was one of those 'right place, right time moments'. Though that being said I have always had a fascination with big cats they are some of my favourite animals. Whenever I go anywhere that could provide me a chance to get a photo of a Jaguar, a Lion, a Tiger etc I head straight there. I was just incredibly lucky that this guy decided to basically stop for a photo up on this rock, if I had been there five minutes later I would have missed this opportunity.Editing
I do often do some post-processing with photos especially with the photos where I can't really control anything for instance with this specific photo, the lighting. I was happy with the original photo but being a very amateur photographer at this point the overcast sky created a washed out look which muted a lot of the colours. Being young and naive I also only shot in JPEG (something I definitely don't do anymore!) which gave me a very limited photo to post-process. The main things I did (using Lightroom) was play around with saturation and contrast in order to try and keep the photo as clear as possible.In my camera bag
Still considering myself as an amateur photographer my gear isn't that extensive at all. I've got my trusty Canon EOS 500D body which has probably survived better than I have with all its been through! I always try to keep my 70-300mm telephoto with me just because its such a versatile and reliable lens. More recently I also invested in a Canon EF-S 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 IS STM Lens for times where I'm wandering round a new city or am out trekking as it is such a light and robust lens.Feedback
I think whenever you are taking photos of animals, whether they are in the wild or captivity, watch them for a bit (time permitting). By all means if you see a great photo opportunity take it but give yourself a few minutes to watch the habits of the animal. Also get an idea of the angle you want to take the photo at if you have that choice, you don't HAVE to get the animal dead-on looking into the lens. Finally, always consider the lighting as more often than not with any kind of nature photography you can't control it you can only learn how to use it to your advantage.
