Trip to Tyler Zoo

[Clint_Smith]

the family ventured to Tyler to visit Caldwell Zoo. It was really nice....but all the animals were not very photogenic this day.everyone had their back to the viewing areas...I guess they didn't feel pretty.

all except these two cats and one lemer

[Sheldon]

Great shots! Love the 2nd one........thanks for sharing these with us.

[suzyjazz]

WOW -- that leopard/jaguar is gorgeous! Wonderful pics.

[saberry]

If you are up in East Texas, you should also stop by the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin. It's a small zoo but you can get some great shots. We went one time on a weekday and seemed to be the only people there for a couple of hours. There were peacocks walking out in the open with their feathers in full show - very cool. There is a video on their website; the peacock is near the end.

http://ellentroutzoo.com/

[Clint_Smith]

Originally Posted by saberry

If you are up in East Texas, you should also stop by the Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin. It's a small zoo but you can get some great shots. We went one time on a weekday and seemed to be the only people there for a couple of hours. There were peacocks walking out in the open with their feathers in full show - very cool. There is a video on their website; the peacock is near the end.

http://ellentroutzoo.com/

I am about as far east in Texas as you can be without being in Arkansas.....

I will look in to going to lufkin

[Bill Huber]

I really like the first shot, the look in the eyes tells it all. I do think a little color balance would help, just pull out a little of the blue.

The Lion in is a neat shot also, it looks just like my daughters cat in the tree, only a little BIGGER....

It looks like I need to run out to Tyler some Sunday and do a little shooting, nice looking zoo and I have heard a lot about it here on the forum.

Thats what I like about this place.... find out about all kinds of neat places.

[Holly]

Very nice - I just went to the Houston Zoo yesterday - haven't got the pics back yet (film) but I am certain they do not begin to compare with yours. Just beautiful... now what are the details? Lens choice, aperture, etc.... (if you don't mind me asking) :)

[rphoto]

Very nice , I really like the second one.

[jazzdiver]

Clint,

Excellent job on the leopard in your first shot. Ditto for the cougar. I went to the Caldwell Zoo yesterday and although finding it to be a rather nice zoo for visiting, it didn't find it particularly amenable to photography due to so any exhibits being being glass (or acrylic?) windows or else fencing of a smaller mesh size than is very workable. The cougar was one of the few animals where the distance could be put to use in conjunction with depth of field control to blur out a forground fence or glass wall, but for the latter you still have to be extremely watchful of glare and reflections. I was unable to get anything satisfying of the leopards but will probably have something I like of the cougar.

I went to the zoo largely to see Antoine Blanc, the white alligator, but somewhat expecting and indeed finding that he was on exhibit in a typical alligator enclosure behind a glass-walled...what would it be called....terrarium I guess? Being about 90% in the water made things tricky too, but I shot some images anyway, just to capture this rather unique beast.

Here are a few photos I took, the leopard shot was the best I could get of this beautiful cat, yet there are some strong spots of glare from the fencing. I doubt I'll try to do much with the photo other than keep it as a matter of record. The cougar headshot was pretty pleasing to me being as I had no photos of cougars until now.

Again, nice job!

Daryl

[Clint_Smith]

your images aer not showing up. I agree about the set up at caldwell...nice to visit, but kinda hard to shoot the big animals unless you have a 300mm

[jazzdiver]

Hi Clint,

My web host seems to be having spotty service today, but the images are there when traffic is good. I was shooting with my VR70-200 + 1.7x lens combo today, so I had the reach I needed for a number of shots, but it was really tough to avoid reflections off the glass. In the case of the white alligator, I shot with my DX12-24mm zoom positioned flush against the glass or nearly so at least, so that helped some.

Daryl

[Clint_Smith]

the white gator was in a bad position when I was there...all I got was a head shot