I wonder what she is thinking? II
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Description
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Mar, 2020Views
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Awards
Zenith Award
Zenith Award
Zenith Award
Zenith Award
Zenith Award
Curator's Selection
Spring 21 Award
Elite
Superb Composition
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Magnificent Capture
Virtuoso
All Star
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Behind The Lens
Location
One of my favorite “photo outings” is a afternoon at the Bronx Zoo (New York City), which is about a half hour from my house. I can spend hours interacting with the animals; studying and/or being amused by their behavior; watching them watch me … as I did on this occasion. I tend to visit the zoo on cloudy weekdays with weather bad enough to keep the crowds away. Given the weather, I prefer to work the indoor locations where, most often, I can set up my tripod and spend as much time as I like at any given site.Time
I prefer to arrive at the zoo around noontime because whatever light there is tends to be the brightest at most of my preferred locations around midday. On this day in mid-April, I arrived just before noon and took a meandering walk to the Lemur area, snapping a few quick handheld shots along the way. This shot was taken at approximately 1:40 pm.Lighting
The lighting indoors at the zoo is mostly terrible for photography, bright in some areas, dark in others, full of shadows, glare and reflections. You cannot use a flash because it spooks the animals and bounces off the glass fronting the habitats, but the lemur area can give you some clear moderate light if you learn where to stand.Equipment
A Nikon D7100 body fitted with a NIKKOR 18-300 mm 3.5-5.6 lens mounted on a 12 year old Manfrotto tripod. No other equipment was involved.Inspiration
At the zoo, the behavior of the animals often dictates the composition and the mood or feel of the capture. They are so expressive that I feel almost obligated to try to capture what I think they are communicating. As soon as I arrived at the Lemur area, I set my tripod up in front of Hands (I have given names to the animals that I see most often). However, while setting up, I could feel Sandy leaning forward on a branch watching me intently. This was unusual, most often Sandy is playful and loves to perform in front of an audience or camera. I slowly moved the tripod directly in front of her, hoping she would follow me with her eyes and body, giving me a head-on shot … which she did. I quickly framed and shot a number of full body portraits as well as close up head shots, and was very pleased with the shots..Editing
My interest in photography began when I was a freshman in college and started working on the student newspaper. Over the three years, I served as reporter/photographer, and editor (text and photo). Newspaper journalists tend to be ruthless photo croppers, seeking to reduce each picture in size and detail to create an intense focus on the “story” that the picture tells. In many ways, I am still newspaper photographer … always trying to keep the process and image simple and focused on story telling. I approach post-processing the same way. I try to keep it simple: aggressive cropping, using Lightroom sliders rather than Photoshop layers whenever I can. In this case, I used the light, color and clarity related sliders to tune the images and was very happy the full body shots but wasn’t happy with facial expressions in the head shots. So, I returned to the full body images and cropped a front facial portrait from it. Not only did I get the expression I wanted, the enlarged cropped image took on a softness that I thought perfect for the shot.In my camera bag
I am a 72 year-old amateur photographer who works on a small photographic budget and can not enjoyably carry a lot of equipment. So, I travel light. I have only one body (still the 7100) and two lenses: the NIKKOR work horse I described above and a NIKKOR 24-70 mm 2.8 prime lens. I also carry either the old Manfrotto tripod or the monopod leg of a Benro iFoto Travel Tripod (I use the full Benro when I travel).Feedback
While nothing can replace the excitement of exploring new environs and subjects with a camera in hand, returning to the same setting repeatedly over time in varying circumstances can be very rewarding in studious way. You can develop an intimate relation with a particular space, it’s features and creatures. Repetition and time compel you to: see evermore detail; keep changing perspective; rely more heavily on your creativity; and take more risks. It also helps you to become more intimate with any wildlife (human or animal), which will keep opening new opportunities over time.
