tdierikx

All of the photos here have been shot on a Canon 60D with a Tamron 18-270mm lens. All shot in JPG and no editing apart from resizing and minor sharpening in Easy Thumbnails (does batch resizing very nicely). No individual attention has been paid to any of the pics here - they are essentially straight out of the camera. No cropping either - what you see is what the camera gave me. I have the camera on the Sports setting and basically just line up and let it focus, then just hold the button down so it takes multiple shots - almost guaranteed to get some good ones that way... *grin* - I've also worked plenty on panning with the action, so that if the target is moving I can capture it in decent focus still. Good lighting helps, and getting a position where you don't get glare or slimy fingersmears on the glass helps a LOT! Sometimes patience pays too - wait until you can get the position you need to get the shots you want. I took around 1200 pics on Saturday, and 1400 on Sunday - deleted around 300 completely crap ones from Saturday, and 500 from Sunday - leaving me with around 900 decent pics for each day... then I picked the ones I like the best to post here. As you will note, only 20-odd posted from each day... I only picked the best ones, and a couple that were not as good, but showed something interesting - like the koala jumping, and the turtles playing piggyback. Not much can be done about the fuzziness of the koala pic, but I've since fiddled around with the turtles one in DPP and reckon I could have made that better before posting by adjusting the brightness and contrast. I liked the Lion pics from the Saturday better than the Sunday ones - better position, and the Lions were more curious and coming up to the glass more. I got much better Tiger pics on Sunday though, and more of them too. The Giraffes were more interesting on Sunday, as were the Chimps - and as for the male Gorilla... what I wouldn't have done for a longer lens to get some close-ups of his eyes... he was telling a story there... I think I'll be going for the Canon 100-400mm lens after reading some reviews and seeing some photos shot with it on the same camera as mine... can't wait to get it and get back to the zoo... I have bought myself a Zoo Friends pass so I can now go as often as I like... *grin* T.

Probably shorter odds on finding a bat in yer daks... lol! T.

Hello handsome boy! T.

She's going to get a little bit of a shock when the puppies start coming then... hehe! T.

She looks like she's lapping up all the attention she's getting right now... lol! Has she had pups before, or is this her first litter? T.

... last lot... Enjoy!!! T.

... continued... ... one more lot coming...

OK - here are some of the best pics from Sunday's outing... ... more coming...

Someone had their fun - maybe not as fun for her right now... *giggle* T.

OMG... how cute was she?? for sure her babies are going to be just as cute... so we'll need LOTS of photos of them, OK? T.

I have a Canon 60D with a Tamron 18-270mm lens... although I'm also thinking of getting a 100-400mm lens - just to get that bit closer... *grin* Any recommendations for a lens in the 100-400mm range? The Sigma's seem to be fairly cheap compared to the other brands... would there be any specific reason for that? T.

I also bought a Zoo Friends yearly pass online this morning... Spring/Summer is coming and I think I'll be using it a lot... *grin* You poor buggers are going to be bombarded with regular Zoo pics now... T.

There are LOTS pesh... and that's where is gets very hard... must select only the better ones... *grin* I pruned all the really crap ones out - still have 950-ish pics to choose from! I've sorted them into folders of each main critter this morning - so should only have to sort out a select few from each type to share this evening when I get home from work. T.

A Whippet with a very full tummy... now there's a sight you don't see every day... *grin* Stunning girl - and I'm sure she's going to have stunning pups. T.

No crossbreeds or similar... *grin* Done. T.

I've just gone through 1400-odd photos from today... and there are definitely some OMG moments... *grin* At one point we thought we might see some giraffe nooky... I was almost afraid to take pics of the 2 lovebirds, but they spared us from the more intimate stuff... lol! I've got all the "staples", lions, tigers, gorillas, chimps, giraffes, elephants... and LOTS of each. It seriously going to take some time to select the very best/coolest ones - there are so MANY of them... but I promise it will be worth the wait until tomorrow evening... I'm completely shattered right now and really need to eat something then veg in front of the TV before I crash. I really need to get me a Zoo Friends pass, and a longer zoom lens (say something up to the 400 or 500mm mark? Sigma ones look like decent bang for the buck)... the shots I reckon I could get would be worth the spend methinks. I promise to post some of today's best shots tomorrow evening, OK? T.

Well... I DID go again today... *note to self: need to get a yearly pass if I'm gonna do this on a regular basis* Took around 1400 photos... errr! Almost as soon as I got to the zoo I got chatting with a lovely lady who goes there every weekend, and she took me around to a lot of the good spots for getting photos - we had a great time snapping away all day. She knew all the names of the Lions, Tigers, Giraffes, etc, and we also met up with a friend of hers that knew all of the Chimps off by heart too... I had the best Zoo day ever! Now all I have to do is go through all the photos and pick a few really nice ones to share... aarrgghh! T.

My shots were taken on a windy afternoon in full Auto mode... *grin* I suppose I didn't do too badly considering... lol! I'm pretty steady when hand holding the camera - you learn that when taking long zoom shots in lowish light... errr! I actually haven't pulled out the macro lens since that first attempt... kinda got sidetracked by going to the Zoo TWICE this weekend. Seriously, I'm thinking of getting the 100-400mm lens for Zoo work - will be able to get really good Chimp and Gorilla shots with one of those methinks. I will get back to the macro at some point, just gotta get me some inspiration first... T.

We have one that was adopted from us a few years back - and he comes to us for holidays when his mum does. He is an awesome little man, and I can fully understand the "Tibbie Tragic" syndrome... T.

Black dogs are very special... and they get only the very best owners... so that's why Smudge is getting less hits. Only the best people are looking at her... *grin* T.

OMG!! Isn't he such a handsome boy? T.

Run free Solo... T.

Fascinating shots CC... I'm scared of spiders, but your little lady is actually quite cute. Don't think I'd be getting that close to many spiders though... I'm a bit of a girlie when they start scuttling... T.

The lions were bloody hard to get a good vantage point for by the time I got there - it was crowded and there were a lot of rude pushy shovey people trying to lift their children up to the glass to put their slimy hands all over it... I was off to the side and had to use full zoom and sports mode on the camera to get any shots at all of the male. The light wasn't perfect either... I did get some nice ones of one of the females though, as she graciously came right up to the spot I was standing and looked dead at me from about 3 feet away. God they are divine animals! Tossing up whether to go again today and see if I can get some good tiger shots - also missed the elephants, the gorillas, all the Australian fauna, etc... I mainly went yesterday to have a go at shooting the reptiles... I spent a good 90 mins doing that, and did get some nice pics of slithery things... *grin* I think I did pretty good getting around 1200 photos yesterday, and only deleted around 300 that were complete crap. T.

... last lot... Some of the pics aren't the greatest - lots of reflections on the glass and smeared kiddy fingerprints don't make for ease of photography - not to mention that it was pretty crowded at some of the exhibits. T.