San Diego Zoo trip

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Went to the San Diego Zoo yesterday and had a challenging time shooting in the Reptile House.
Comments welcome, these are straight out of the camera except for cropping.
I found the reflections on the glass and the light conditions tricky.
Shot with my NEX 7 w/Canon 35mm f2.8 lens.


Once again I seem to be struggling with posting an image here. (sigh)









OK, I think I got it this time. I left the thumbnail in to show where the two green snakes came from, ie the same picture, just cropped differently.
It was a fun day shooting at the zoo and I look forward to going back as I bought a year long pass. =:>O

[Ziggy]

Agree, tricky conditions to deal with. Last one with both snakes is cool.

[Shadowman]

Looked like a fun outing, nice efforts.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Thanks Jim and John, it was fun 'working' for the pictures. The only time I was wishing I'd had my D7k with me is when we were on the bus tour. Here's a shot waiting to leave the 'station' on the tour.



I've got a year long pass to the zoo and the Wild Animal Park too now so more pictures to come from both places in the future.

[Shadowman]

Thanks Jim and John, it was fun 'working' for the pictures. The only time I was wishing I'd had my D7k with me is when we were on the bus tour. Here's a shot waiting to leave the 'station' on the tour.



I've got a year long pass to the zoo and the Wild Animal Park too now so more pictures to come from both places in the future.

Was the bus tour part of the zoo experience or was this how you arrived?

[AlwaysOnAuto]

This is a part of the zoo experience. You can buy tickets once you get into the park. For a first time visitor I highly recommend it as it gives you a good overview of the park and shows you how much walking you will have in front of you if you decide to see 'all of it' in one day.
Here's a view from the bus of the Grizzly Bear enclosure.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

And here's the Polar Bear exhibit from the bus.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Just to give a comparison in how far zoo's have advanced, here is a picture of a slide I had in some old family files that was marked as being the Bronx Zoo circa 1950's.



I made this exposure by using my D7000 w/Micro Nikkor 55 f3.5 and a laptop screen as a light behind the slide.

[Shadowman]

Nice, the bus experience, is this a hop on hop off opportunity? Probably not.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

No, but they do have shuttle buses that allow hop on/off rides to help cut down on the amount of walking you have to do.

[IzzieK]

Interesting...I had lived in San Diego for three months at a time in between my job in NY in the past and I never thought of going to the zoo. I always end up in the Asian supermarket for shopping and Tiajuana for the el cheapo still-moving-$10-a-pot lobsters with friends. Now for me the zoo is the best way to chomp on photographing animals.

Very nice shots here...Although I like #1 very much, I find the expression of #3 interesting because of its angry look. 'Must be tiring to be the star of every photographer in town over there behind that glass...

[Shadowman]

Interesting...I had lived in San Diego for three months at a time in between my job in NY in the past and I never thought of going to the zoo. I always end up in the Asian supermarket for shopping and Tiajuana for the el cheapo still-moving-$10-a-pot lobsters with friends. Now for me the zoo is the best way to chomp on photographing animals.

Very nice shots here...Although I like #1 very much, I find the expression of #3 interesting because of its angry look. 'Must be tiring to be the star of every photographer in town over there behind that glass...

I've been to the zoo only two times in the last five years, just recently as two weeks ago and enjoyed the experience so much I might revolve my next vacation (somewhere sunny) around the excursion. By the way, city parks in some cities around the world have a wealth of interesting species.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Izzy you don't know what you've missed by not visiting the zoo.

[IzzieK]

Izzy you don't know what you've missed by not visiting the zoo.

Now I do...San Diego zoo is world famous so I guess I am kicking myself for not too interested in photography at the time...I will be up over that way after the New Year or something on my way out. Your shot here is very inspiring even if I do not like snakes...but they are behind a cage, so I guess it is OK...'Just got a round trip ticket for two last night with two nights stay at a hotel anywhere in the US so I guess that is the trip I'd like to go to. Or Maine. ha!