Mike's Other Pixtures #67

One of my least favorite animals to photograph at the Zoo .... Camels.

Their compound is particularly ugly.

Hard to frame shots so the man made parts ..... like chain link fences don't show.

And camels are ugly .... really ugly.

I think they know it too.

They are always standing far away .... generally with their back towards you.

Mike's Other Pixtures #66

It's always a good day when the Polar Bears are available for a photo op.

When the heat comes .... they of course hide themselves away.

This particular day was sunny but quite cold .... which suits them just fine.

This guy made me work for the shot though.

Her mate was out and parading around .... but she was sitting just inside their cave.

Love my long lens for just this very reason.

I can reach out to get the "portrait shot" that I always favor.

Mike's Other Pixtures #65

It was just about the right kind of day for a Giraffe pixture.

Sunny but not too bright.

And this guy was quite busy getting his lunch from the hay ball .... that you see just behind his head.

As is so often the case, at this venue  .... the light was coming from not quite the right direction.

But a little work in post production .... let me compensate for that.

And that hanging hay .... just the right touch for different.

In case you are wondering .... this is not the hay that escaped his mouth.

It's the portion of this mouthful .... that just hadn't made it all the way in yet.

Mike's Other Pixtures #64

The Tigers are among my favorite pixture ops at the Zoo.

For obvious reasons their compound provides considerable distance between them and us. 

There is always a mixture of light and shadow in their compound .... both of which they seem to like in equal amounts. 

My long lens and some cropping in Lightroom lets me create the tight head shots that I prefer.

And those pixtures are always dramatic .... IF .... I get the focus on the eyes exactly right (like I did in the one on the upper left).

 But if you miss that focus, on the eyes, even just a little bit (like the right eye on the pixture in on the right side of this post) it looses a lot of it's punch. 

Sage photographic advice, always tells you to get the eyes and to get them in sharp focus.

In the case of the Tiger .... their natural camouflage pattern seems to magnify this need.

Our eye needs a frame of reference .... if it is going to make sense out of this jumble of colors and lines.

On the same day, I took a 3rd pixture .... a very nice profile.

It was this pixture that I was excited about.

It was an angle that I had not shot before.

But, in the end .... it is not at all pleasant to look at .

There is just no place for my eye to enter this pixture.

And as a result .... it's tough to make out what I am seeing.