Lion, Lioness photography

 

 

Hi everyone, I was working on book cover submission searching my old images, and I came across the lions shots I did at the Calgary Zoo a while ago.
I remembered that day like it was yesterday, I was so lucky, I had my tripod my big 100-400 lens, my kenko teleplus pro 300 1.4x extender , up to 560mm that's long enough for safari in a zoo!!!

The photo above was done with the extender and the image is quite sharp, the 100-400 is a huge heavy lens, and using a tripod is a most to get sharp images.

The following images were all redone for my submission, as you can see all of them were transformed to portrait of vertical, to match book cover format, I changed the background for some of them to add a story.

Before directly from the camera

After one was accepted by Arcangel "book cover agency"

Before directly from the camera

 After this one was accepted by Arcangel "book cover agency"

Before directly from the camera

After

 Passing many hours waiting and shooting was very rewarding that day, it's not always the case, but one thing is sure, being patient and having all the gears in hand help a lot, I know it's very cumbersome and heavy, but that day like most of the time I passed at the Calgary Zoo, I rented a cart to carry my equipment, it make a huge difference, passing a full day carrying heavy equipment is very demanding, using a cart is the way to go,

Not all of the above where accepted, but reworking the image for my submission was great, I find  shooting wild animal in a zoo very interesting, no matter how big or small the zoo is you will always find great images, some zoos even have photo safari event, something I am thinking of doing.


Have a great week everyone,

To get Perfect Effect 4 for Free click on the link on the right of the page

The Calgary Zoo

Montage "The 3 Amigos Bank Job" Canon 5D Markii, Canon 100-400 at 280mm, f5.6, 1/250sec, ISO200,

The Calgary Zoo, is an amazing zoo, it’s the second largest in Canada after Toronto.

The 3 Amigos, Canon 5D Markii, Canon 100-400 at 280mm, f5.6, 1/250sec, ISO200,BW using Onone software

 (To get Perfect Effect 4 for Free click on the link on the right of the page)

Located on St. George’s Island in downtown Calgary, a great location till June 2013 flood, the zoo suffered extensive damage costing over $50 million, the zoo fully reopened in November 2013.

For me like many Albertans and tourists the zoo is an oasis, a place to learn and relax.

The pictures on this post are some of my favorite, as you will see, I used some of them to create images that have nothing to do with the reality, but are part of my vision.

Canon 5D Markii, Canon 70-200 at 70mm, f2.8, 1/50 sec. ISO1250, using Corel Painter software,

The Other Side of the Glass, I like the interaction between the little monkey that in fact is outside, and the people the other side of the glass that are inside the building, it last just a fraction of second, just the time to capture it. Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 100-400 at 400 f5.6, 1/200sec. ISO 400

The Thinker, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 70-200 at 160mm, f5, 1/1250sec, ISO 200

Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 24-105 at 100mm, f4.5, 1/640sec, ISO200

I love pink flamingo, I had that vision when I saw them, I started by the BW image above, but that wasn't what I was looking for, I wanted to keep the pink, and add a surreal mood, using liquify filter in Photoshop and Corel Painter I was able to recreate my vision, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 24-105 at 100mm, f4.5, 1/640sec, ISO200

The zebras are probably one of my favorite subject, love the lines, especially great for BW, Canon 5DMarkiii, Canon 100-400 at 340mm, f5.6, 1/320sec, ISO200, Software onOne

The zebras such an amazing animal, I really like the way they are position in the frame, when I am out at the zoo, I can wait for hours to get a shot, and sometimes is doesn't happen, but this time it did, took me many days working with Photoshop and Corel to get the image exactly how I wanted, some of my pre-visualisation are very difficult and sometimes impossible to create even with Photoshop and all the other digital darkroom tools. For this shot I use my Canon 5DMarkiii, Canon 100-400 at 260mm, f5.6, 1/400sec, ISO200

The Lioness, so beautiful and ferocious, she is the queen, I passed many hours shooting her and her friends, the other lioness and the lions, to do so I needed to put my big lens on a tripod in a safe location, the African Lions are very popular and with all the kids rooming around it takes time to find the perfect spot, when I found it, I kept it for a while, shooting for few hours, wasn't even affected by the army of mosquitoes!!!  So I did like always when it's possible I used my sturdy tripod, Canon 5DMarkiii, Canon 100-400 at 308mm. f7.1, 1/160, ISO 400,

The angry girls, gorgeous and ferocious, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 100-400 with a Kenco 1.4 extender to get 560mm, f8, 1/400sec, ISO400

The King, how handsome, young and perky, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 100-400 with a Kenco 1.4 extender to get 434mm, f8, 1/250 ISO400

The Look of a king, Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 100-400 with a Kenco 1.4 extender to get 560mm, f9, 1/200 ISO400

To be successful when going for a safary at your local zoo, bring your tripod, I normally rent a cart to transport all my gears, be patient and take the time to find the perfect view point, set your gears be ready to shoot, and wait for the perfect moment, patience is the essence, that's why I always go alone, that way I can take as long as I want and focus on what I am doing, with no distraction.

To get Perfect Effect 4 for Free click on the link on the right of the page

Calgary Zoo Lioness

This is Mbira or Tisha one of the lioness at the Calgary Zoo,  I used my Canon 5D Markiii, Canon 100-400, Kenko 1.4 Teleplus Pro 300 to get to a focal length of 560 on a tripod at f8, 1/320 sec, ISO 400. No need for cropping on this one, I used OnOne Perfect BW 8 software, and a bit of dodging and burning.