A few posts ago, I mentioned that cloudy days are some of my favorite days to take photos. The fact that we don’t have to deal with harsh shadows is the key. Because of that, we’re not limited to just early morning or late afternoon for good light. Below are images that I took this past Sunday at The Kansas City Zoo. It was a cloudy day. I have done some minor post processing work in Lightroom 4 but nothing took more than 2 minutes to do.  All but one of the photos were shot at f 5.6 with an ISO of 1100 which is higher than I’ve done in the past. The higher ISO allows for a higher shutter speed in the lower light.

Checking out my territory

Why is there no electronic noise at this high ISO?  These were taken with a Nikon D4.   The D4 rocks at high ISO and generates little noise. Of course there are still limits as to how high you can go. It’s the reason I purchased the Nikon D4. Many of my wildlife images are taken in very low light. Of course, animals don’t stay still while you compose the shot. Because they’re moving a fast shutter speed is needed to get them in sharp focus. The D4 just rocks for low light photography!

This is Langka

The post processing adjustments that I’ve made include just minor exposure, white levels, some slight shadows and clarity adjustments. Most of which took less than a minute for the whole process.  Oh yes, I also like to add a little vignette to highlight the subject.

Female Western Lowland Gorilla

If it had been a sunny day, I would never have been able to get this shot. Her heavy brow and deep set eyes would have been in such a dark shadow that we wouldn’t see her eyes.  While they’re still pretty dark even in this light, at least we can see them.

Oh No! It Bill pointing that funny black box at me again!

Above is Radi a male Western Lowland Gorilla. Looks like he’s trying to recover from a hard night of too much fun.  He now shares the exhibit with 3 females.

The following image is just for fun. As a colleague of mine once said, this animal has a face that only a mother could love. I personally think it’s rather cool!

African Ground Hornbill

Several years ago, I was very lucky to see a whole flock of them when I was in Kenya. It was very cool!

Well, I hope you can see why I like cloudy days to take pictures. I also hope that it inspires you to take your camera along on cloudy days too.

Some folks have asked why I take so many pictures of zoo animals. As a docent at the zoo, it offers me a great opportunity to share photos of these wonderful ambassadors of their species in a positive way. It’s also a great way to practice taking photos in all kinds of light situations before going out into the wild.  These animals don’t stay still either!

In a few weeks, I hope to be posting some new images from Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.  Thanks for coming and please stay tuned.

Bill

I’ve noticed that most of my recent images from the Kansas City zoo are almost all from the African area. Because I need to continue to practice with varying light conditions, I thought I’d try a couple of the other areas of the zoo.

The image below is for our reptile lovers. It is a Vietnamese Long-nose Snake. The long nose looks much like the leaves of a bamboo plant. With that nose and green coloring, it stays very well hidden.  This snake along with several others can be seen in the Snakes Alive Exhibit.

I do sheeeee you!

This next image is of a Von der Decken’s Hornbill. It can be found in Central and Eastern Tanzania, Southeastern Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. I think he’s quite handsome.

I really am a handsome bird!

The three guys below are generally very playful but I do see them in this position quit often.  They are Asian Small-clawed Otters.

Been playing too hard…. Time for a nap!

The Asian Small-clawed Otters can been seen in the Tropics Building.  OK, so now it’s time to go back outside.  I’m sure you’ll know where we’re headed with the image below……

Don’t look now but it’s Bill again with that pesky black-eyed box! Smile!

Yup! It’s Australia! When visiting Australian you will actually be in the exhibit with the kangaroos. Some people have thought that they have escaped but they haven’t.  Of course, you must stay on the path and not approach them or try to pet them.  These are Red Kangaroos which are reported to be the largest of the kangaroos.

Now this next animal always brings a smile to my face. OK, I’ll admit it. I sometimes break out in laughter because of the way in which it looks at me. It kind of looks like it’s smiling too!…..  Hey….. You don’t suppose that it’s laughing at me, do you???

Who IS that funny looking guy?

If I don’t look at him, maybe he’ll go away!

This next one is very cool!  I don’t get to see him very often. People walk right by it and never see it because it blends into it’s surroundings so well.  It just looks like it’s just part of the tree.  He doesn’t move and almost always has his eyes closed.

Hi! I’m a Tawny Frogmouth

Oh, I almost forgot again! I put an image on FB to see who could identify an animal. Now, I know there is at least one person that got it right…. Gail Degeer knows her animals!  I’m sure you’ve all figured it out by now. It is……….

OK Bill, I looked at you. Now, GO AWAY AND LET ME SLEEP!

It is very cool because it actually looked at me. It’s never done that before. What a lucky day! Well, I hope you enjoyed a short tour of a couple of the other areas of the zoo.  Thanks for coming!

Bill

As you all know, I spend quite a bit of time at the zoo but today, I was on a mission. I have a new camera and needed to test it out. Below are some, perhaps, strange images. The first two images are of our Wart Hogs.

Hi! I’m Alvin

And I’m Lola!

Then I went to the Gorilla exhibit. The first thing that I saw is pictured below. Once it saw me, it ran like the dickens. I’m quite please because all the images of it running came out tack sharp. I don’t think I would have captured it as sharp with my other camera.

I gota get out of here…… Pronto!

It must have been frightened of me because we all know that Wanto wouldn’t hurt this little guy. Wanto is below.

Wanto

I then found this next little guy hiding in the grass. We don’t often see it because it’s so skittish. Normally when it sees people, it runs inside to hide. It is a Kirk’s Dik Dik. I know that it was watching me but it didn’t seem to be threatened with my presence. That’s always my goal when photographing wildlife.

I’ll bet he doesn’t see me!

Then, I took a shot of a side of Murphy that we don’t often see!

I hope he gets my good side!

I had to try to take some shots where the lighting is a challenge so I tried inside the Discovery Barn.

Hurry up Bill! I can’t stay still for very long!

I do have to admit that I left many shots out. While I was just doing some testing, I have to say that I’m very impressed with the clarity, color and sharpness of each shot. This new camera Rocks! The blog doesn’t really do the images justice as they are very small Jpeg files.  What do you think?

Oh Yea! I almost forgot! I posted a couple of shots for friends on FB to see if they could identify a couple of animals.  The first one is…..

What animal is this?

It is a………………………………

Bongo!

I know that you cannot see the entire animal so you’ll just have to trust me! HA!  The next one is ……………….

Which Lion is this?

If you knew or guessed it to be …………………………..

Jean!

You’re correct!

I hope you enjoyed our short trip to the Kansas City Zoo!

Please come back again!

Bill

I just wanted to show how the background of an image can have such an impact to our final prints.  The image of the immature bald eagle below is right out of the camera with a minor vignette added. As you can see, it has a branch sticking out of its head.  Not Good!

Why do I have a branch sticking out of my head?

With some touch-up work in Photoshop, the image looks much better.

Look Ma... No branch sticking out of my head!

So, what’s the big deal? Well, it takes time to do the correction in Photoshop. If I had just moved a little bit to the right, the branch would not be directly behind the eagle and the image would have been much better from the get go. Also, the light might be just a bit better because it’s coming from the right side as well.

I often get so excited about the subject that I don’t always pay attention to the distractions like the background and the edges that can ruin an image.  Composing a shot, isn’t just paying attention to the subject but also paying attention to everything in the composition.

Some might say; “Well as long as I can fix it in post, why should I care?” Well, not only does it take time to fix these issues but sometimes, they just cannot be fixed at all. As a result, for the lack of paying attention to the detail, an otherwise Great image just may be lost.

Hope this help some of you with your photography.  By the way, most photographers won’t show you their mistakes.  However, you never know what you’ll find here!

Hope you’re enjoying the day.  Thanks for coming!

BYW: I should have eliminated the branch sticking out of its right wing too.

One way to improve your success when taking landscapes is to be sure to pay attention to the light.  Most people know that early morning and early evening light is always the best for landscape images. However, if you can get out in the early morning right after a rain storm, well, it just doesn’t get any better than that!  The colors are always spectacular.

After four days of rain, the grass has turned green and the redbuds are in full bloom. What really brings out the color besides the great early morning light is the fact that everything is wet and vibrant. The tree trunks will be much darker too.  Wow, I just love to make clicks on a morning like we had today!

You know it’s early because there’s no one on the course. That’s a good thing. Otherwise, I would have been dodging incoming golf balls. The course did become quite busy just a few minutes later. Getting up early is a must for landscape work, especially on a golf course!

Of course, you know that I just cannot show landscapes without showing some critters too.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised that the three wood ducks that I had heard about yesterday were still on one of the ponds this morning.  It seems as though they were just waiting for me to take their picture.

Doesn’t it look like the one on the left is giving instruction to the other two?  We don’t often see wood ducks in the open like this so it was quite a treat and a great way to start the day.

Many of you know that birds of prey are a passion of mine.  I just couldn’t resist taking the following shot of the Red-tailed hawk by the green. I actually took this one a few days earlier but I thought you’d enjoy it.

It didn’t seem to mind that I was watching or taking its picture.  Of course I didn’t know it at the time but he had his eye on a field mouse.  He stayed there on that pink post for about five minutes before he swooped over to the grass to get it. It looked like he caught it but the mouse somehow got away. It must have gone down a hole because after searching in the grass for a few minutes, the hawk flew off without the mouse.

Some days you win and some days you don’t.  I certainly won today!  I hope you had a great day too.  I hope you enjoyed the walk on the golf course. Thanks for coming by!

Bill

Yep! It finally snowed in Kansas City. I didn’t even mind shoveling the drive this morning.  Of course 2 inches is a lot easier to shovel than 12 or 24 inches. I couldn’t wait to go out for a walk with my camera in hand. It’s always great to be the first person to make tracks in the snow. Besides mine, the only other tracks to be seen were animals tracks.  It’s fun to follow them because they seem to tell a story.

Not another human footprint yet!

The first animal that I saw was on the lake. It’s a Common Goldeneye. They spend summers in Canada and winter in the south.  I don’t recall ever seeing one before. It was by itself and wouldn’t let me get too close. I felt so lucky to see it that I had to share its image.

Common Goldeneye

Besides a few birds that were too quick on the fly, the only other animals that I saw were deer. When I saw the one pictured below, I just had to take its picture. You’ll have to agree that it’s the longest deer you’ve ever seen!

Longest Deer ever Seen!

Of course it’s two different deer but when I saw it, well, I just couldn’t resist the shot. If you look to the right of it you’ll see another one peeking around a tree. The doe in the next shot, was very curious. She must not have recognized me as a human. I was scrunched down looking at the herd as she just kept walking closer and closer to me. She must have been trying to get a better look or was trying to scare me off.  I remained very still and we watched each other for quite some time.

What are you!

While there may have been more, I counted 8 in this small herd. Not one of them was the big buck that I was hoping to see.

The little pond below looks much different in the spring and summer than it did today. It’s in a very secluded spot. I don’t think many people know it’s there. Animal footprints along the shore are the only hints of activity. Sometimes, I just sit by the tall pine on the left to watch for critters and to listen to the wind. It’s a very peaceful place.

Quiet Little Pond

Well after walking about three miles, it was time to head back. The walk was beautiful, quiet and everything looked so clean. As everyone knows, snow can really change things. Look what it did to the sign below. I saw it out of the corner of my eye as I was leaving and………. Well, again, I just couldn’t resist!

Does it really say what I think it does?

Well, I hope that it doesn’t offend anyone. The intent is to bring a smile to your face. I know that this last image will not bring a smile to my friends who have been enjoying the very mild winter we’ve been having but……………….

White just doesn't look good on the GC!

remember, Spring is only five weeks away.

Well, thanks for taking the walk with me. I hope you’ve enjoyed it.  I know that I did.

See Ya!

Oh by the way, I now know where three Great Horned Owls are nesting. I hope to get some images in a month or so when the owlets are active.  Stay tuned!