# At The Zoo (Again)



## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

Walked around the Nashville Zoo for a while this morning.  They have a couple of new exhibits that I hadn't seen before, one of which just opened yesterday.   It is a Kangaroo petting area that also has a few Cockatiels.  The Kangaroo shots were boring since they were all right against fences but the Cockatiels worked out pretty decently.  Also my buddy Udo the Eurasian Lynx and an annoyed Snowy Owl who was sleeping soundly until the people next to me woke him up 

Cockatiel ....






Cockatiel .... Too tightly cropped (in camera, naturally) but I liked the pastel on pastel high-key look





Eurasian Lynx ....





Annoyed Snowy Owl ....


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## pixmedic (Sep 15, 2013)

LOVE the Lynx and Owl shots!
a very "portrait" style capture on the kitty. nicely done!


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## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

pixmedic said:


> LOVE the Lynx and Owl shots!
> a very "portrait" style capture on the kitty. nicely done!



Thanks, much appreciated.

The Cockatiel's are just everyday Cockatiel shots, but that Lynx has a personality I keep trying to capture.  His handler told me once that they never turn their back on him.  Every morning when they first come in he sits in his kennel quietly waiting, and as soon as they walk past he slams against the gate.  He weighs around 50 pounds and is solid muscle so it gets their attention.  When he's out in the exhibit area he's usually pretty quiet but he has a mean streak and occasionally I can see a glimpse of it in his eyes.  I've never been able to capture it though.


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## DarkShadow (Sep 15, 2013)

Wow these are fantastic, Great job!   If theses are coming from your sigma glass very impressive sharpness.


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## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

DarkShadow said:


> Wow these are fantastic, Great job!   If theses are coming from your sigma glass very impressive sharpness.



Thanks, Dave.  No, those were with my Nikon 70-300.  My Sigma is a bit long for the zoo and a whole lot heavy to carry around for very long.  That 70-300 is pretty much my "Go To" lens, it gets used for everything.


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## PixelRabbit (Sep 15, 2013)

Great set Scott 
I don't know what it is about that lynx but for some reason your shots of him sometimes make him look stuffed to me?? I have no idea why it appears that way, it's an amazing shot!

That owl is TOTALLY sayin' "Why I oughta!!!"


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## DarkShadow (Sep 15, 2013)

I keeping thinking everything is hundreds of yrds away like in the wild, How silly of me.


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## Woodsman (Sep 15, 2013)

The Lynx and the Owl are amazing


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## hopdaddy (Sep 15, 2013)

Have too agree with the masses ,That lynx shot is da Bomb !


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## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

PixelRabbit said:


> Great set Scott
> I don't know what it is about that lynx but for some reason your shots of him sometimes make him look stuffed to me?? I have no idea why it appears that way, it's an amazing shot!
> 
> That owl is TOTALLY sayin' "Why I oughta!!!"


Thanks, Judi.  I assure you that he's not stuffed.  Most of the time he just lays around in the shade but when he gets up he stalks around the area.  His sister shares the area with him and even she gives him a wide berth.  He's the living definition of "Potential Energy", coiled and ready to explode.  That's the look I keep trying to capture but so far have not been able to.

The owl, yeah that one was not happy   You are right, if looks could kill .....



DarkShadow said:


> I keeping thinking everything is hundreds of yrds away like in the wild, How silly of me.


Not silly at all, these just weren't in the wild   Once we figure out how to keep fences from showing up in photos zoos are great places for photography.



Woodsman said:


> The Lynx and the Owl are amazing


Thank you, I appreciate that.  They are gorgeous animals and I try to do them justice, just not always successfully.


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## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

hopdaddy said:


> Have too agree with the masses ,That lynx shot is da Bomb !


Thanks, Hopdaddy.  His area is a little bit out of the way when I go to the zoo, but I have to go by there each and every time since he's one of my favorites.


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## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

I mentioned that I've tried on many occasions to capture the intensity in that Eurasian Lynx.  I thought I'd add this shot that I took in 2011 since it's as close as I've ever come, and even it isn't very good.  He was walking straight at me when I took this and I got a touch of motion blur in it. Still, it gives an idea of the intensity in his eyes that I keep trying to capture.


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## Rwsphotos (Sep 15, 2013)

Mr lynx will be infamous


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## PixelRabbit (Sep 15, 2013)

Don't get me wrong, he's stunning! You capture him beautifully, I looked at it a while longer ( tough task let me tell ya  lol) and I think it may be the lighting, like he is in a window box looking to the outside, I have shots of my cats that have that "look" when they are in one of the rooms with one wall of windows, perhaps that's it, you should keep shooting him and posting to be sure


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## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

Rwsphotos said:


> Mr lynx will be infamous


Quite possibly!  If they gave awards for gorgeous cats he would be a shoe-in 



PixelRabbit said:


> Don't get me wrong, he's stunning! You capture him beautifully, I looked at it a while longer ( tough task let me tell ya  lol) and I think it may be the lighting, like he is in a window box looking to the outside, I have shots of my cats that have that "look" when they are in one of the rooms with one wall of windows, perhaps that's it, you should keep shooting him and posting to be sure


Actually his area is much like a window box.  At the back is their kennel with trees lining the fence.  On two sides along the fences and scattered throughout the area are more trees.  The tree canopies meet overhead forming a continuously shaded area with the majority of the light coming from the viewing area to the front.  There is certainly some amount of light coming in through the trees but that canopy is pretty solid.  For all intents and purposes it is a box with one open side.

Trust me, I intend to keep shooting him each time I go to the zoo


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## MSnowy (Sep 15, 2013)

Nice set.


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## manicmike (Sep 15, 2013)

The owl one is the best imo. He has that "I'm secretly plotting to kill you" look.


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## Newtricks (Sep 15, 2013)

Scott, All great photo's and exemplary camera craft, the shot you took in 2011 does in fact convey the menace that animal has for captivity.


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## DarkShadow (Sep 15, 2013)

Judging by that last lynx shot thats no fluffy kitty kitty. That thing will tear a limb off.


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## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

MSnowy said:


> Nice set.


Thanks, much appreciated.



manicmike said:


> The owl one is the best imo. He has that "I'm secretly plotting to kill you" look.


I really love those owls.  They are not happy critters this time of year, and the zoo keeps a fan blowing in their area to keep them cooler.  In the winter, when most of the other animals are kept in their kennels, these two are up and alert and happy.

I don't think her look is all that much of a secret though 



Newtricks said:


> Scott, All great photo's and exemplary camera craft, the shot you took in 2011 does in fact convey the menace that animal has for captivity.


Thanks, glad you enjoyed them.  Udo is not a happy kitty most of the time.  I don't think it's so much being in captivity as it is that he's just a hunter at heart.  I would hate to be the squirrel that chose to climb down into that area!

BTW, those were all shot with my D7000 using the 70-300 Nikkor lens.  That combination is certainly capable of sharp shots, although admittedly these were pretty close.  The Lynx and Owl were shot through heavy wire mesh fences though.  That combination of camera body and lens does do an excellent job.


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## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

DarkShadow said:


> Judging by that last lynx shot thats no fluffy kitty kitty. That thing will tear a limb off.



The placard outside their cage says that they can catch and take down an animal that weighs 3 to 4 times their weight.  A full-grown Eurasian Lynx can weigh up to 66 pounds so that means something in the range of 225+ pounds is in jeopardy.  These are probably rather slow due to having lived in captivity for so long, but I still would NOT want to be the guy that gets on their bad side.


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## Newtricks (Sep 15, 2013)

SCraig said:


> BTW, those were all shot with my D7000 using the 70-300 Nikkor lens.  That combination of camera body and lens does do an excellent job.



Your query and advice about using the sharpness setting when editing RAW files was all I needed, not knowing it did I had used it vary little. My photos have been much better since learning about it. For close/stationary shots the D7000/70-300mm combo works great.


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## SCraig (Sep 15, 2013)

Newtricks said:


> Your query and advice about using the sharpness setting when editing RAW files was all I needed, not knowing it did I had used it vary little. My photos have been much better since learning about it. For close/stationary shots the D7000/70-300mm combo works great.



Great!  That was an easy fix then.  RAW files have no sharpening applied which is why they tend to look a little softer than JPEG files.  I have a "Settings" file set up for Capture NX2 as the last step in my editing that embeds an sRGB color space, resizes the image, and adds some sharpening.


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## baturn (Sep 16, 2013)

Nobody else has said anything, but I like the cockatoo close up, probably because I would never think of it myself, and as every one has said the lynx is gorgeous.


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## SCraig (Sep 16, 2013)

baturn said:


> Nobody else has said anything, but I like the cockatoo close up, probably because I would never think of it myself, and as every one has said the lynx is gorgeous.



Thanks, Baturn.  I thought it was an interesting shot to, but I really wish I hadn't cropped it too tightly in camera.  If it's clear this coming weekend I may go by there and try again.


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## JacaRanda (Sep 16, 2013)

Wow, Scott.  That first Lynx photo looks as if you had a portrait session out of a studio.  Fantastic!!!!  Rush that one to the printer asap.


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## SCraig (Sep 16, 2013)

JacaRanda said:


> Wow, Scott.  That first Lynx photo looks as if you had a portrait session out of a studio.  Fantastic!!!!  Rush that one to the printer asap.



Thanks!  He did pose perfectly, didn't he?  I can't take portraits worth a hoot so he must have done all the work 'cause I know I sure didn't


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## astroNikon (Sep 16, 2013)

All the pics have great attributes, thanks for sharing


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## SCraig (Sep 16, 2013)

astroNikon said:


> All the pics have great attributes, thanks for sharing



Thank you for the comments!  Much appreciated and I'm glad you enjoyed them.


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