Omaha Zoo – Miscellany

Nikon D3000, 10.5mm, 1/640, f/13, ISO 1600

This last Omaha-centered blog entry picks up a handful of miscellaneous photos I took during our visit. Though I had my wide angle lens with me, I ended up not using it for all that much. Every once in awhile I got a good result from it, however. I was pleased by the strangely-bending lines of the dome atop the desert building.

Nikon D7000, 125mm (28-200), 1/13, f/5.6, ISO 6400, adjusted

I honestly thought I’d walk away with pretty much nothing from the nocturnal exhibit, but a shot or two sorta worked. For this picture of an alligator I cranked the ISO way up and braced the camera on a railing to avoid as much shake as possible. Still, you can see some camera shake in the shot. Look at the small points of light such as the reflection in the gator’s eye, which should be single points but turn into tell-tale crescents because of camera motion.

I should also note that the gator shot was seriously level-adjusted in Photoshop. Straight out of the camera, the frame was mostly black.

Nikon D7000, 28mm (28-200), 1/800, f/9, ISO 400

I hoped for some good wide angle shots while we were up on the sky tram (the cables for which you can see in shadow running through the middle of the picture). However, the 10.5mm lens kept getting my feet or another part of the tram in the shot, so I had to settle for sorta-wide-angle 28mm pictures from my other lens.

At least this photo demonstrates the value of getting up above your subject for a “lay of the land” picture.

Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/30, f/5.6, ISO 500, cropped

I had to optically zoom in as far as I could and then “digitally zoom” by cropping in order to capture these dour residents.

Nikon D7000, 112mm (28-200), 1/125, f/5.3, ISO 800, adjusted

A wider group shot was less technically demanding.

Nikon D7000, 200mm (28-200), 1/50, f/5.6, ISO 500, adjusted

Some of the most dramatic residents of the rainforest building were giant (like serious shark sized) carp with beautiful gold edges on their scales. The viewing angle and water surface reflections made any kind of documentary shot impossible, and I almost gave up on photographing them at all. But once I gave up the notion of trying to get a clear shot and just went with the beautiful, abstract forms of line, shape and color, I ended up with some pleasing pictures.