Lions and Tigers and Bears

Hooray! The first entry where I had a title before I started rambling on. I feel like I should celebrate, but maybe i'll just focus and finish this entry first.


A little under three weeks ago I rented a 100-400mm zoom lens and took one of my most time intensive trips to the World Famous San Diego Zoo (oOooOoO I used the full name and everything...). It was amazing. I can't recall any other time I'd been to a Zoo that early, save for when I was working at the Wild Animal Park. The animals weren't just awake, they were all over the place! I almost want to shut my mouth and just post some of the pictures... but first the lens.

It was very light to me. I don't know why but I've never had an issue with using big bulky lenses. It comes in at about 3 lbs but didn't really feel like it. Sliding the whole apparatus in order to zoom was something I had never dealt with before. Most complaints I've heard about the lens seem centered around this function, but I didn't really have a problem with it. The lens is definitely worth the money to rent, but as far as purchasing something at a greater focal length I just can't justify giving up the wide apertures I've grown used to. I would certainly rent it again though. I think when I need to get up to this focal length again I'll go for 70-200 2.8 with an extender.

Enough of that though. On to some photos!

 Connor looks a bit hungry...

 Shake it off!

 

No wonder the car version looks so sleek.

My lady's favorite animal :)

These are just a few of the images captured that day. Over the past few weeks I've poured through them all and have really only begun to scratch the surface of what I got. Of the one's I have spent a lot of time looking at I'm seeing where I succeeded and where I failed. Learning from your photos in order to make even better ones the next time is vital. After all, I want to make sure that each photo I share is interesting! With animals I'm almost where I'm finding myself with people and live performance, being able to anticipate what's going to happen right before it happens and being swift enough to frame it the way I want it.

Coming soon i'll have a massive update / restructuring over at http://www.richshoots.com/ so stay tuned for new images!