Weekly Photo Challenge: Inside the Zoo

The St. Louis Zoo has an event every year for folks who participate in their Zoo Parent program.  One of the presentations was a talk by an orangutan keeper.  She was showing how they train the orangutans to present body parts to the keeper so that any medical care they might need can be as non-evasive as possible:

ISO 1250 50mm 0ev f/6.3 1/40

This wasn’t a particularly easy photo to get.  It was a very contrasty scene.  I was standing in the shade, as was the keeper, but you can see that it was very sunny in the background.  I did not want to use my flash in this situation as I thought it would be too distracting.  So, I have my ISO set high and my shutter speed is slow.  The keeper is a bit blurry, but I was OK with that in the case, because I really want you to look beyond the keeper to the orangutan.  I edited this photo in Photoshop.  I added a Levels adjustment and slid the black slider to the left.  I also did both some dodging and burning on the square that includes the orangutan.  Parts of it needed to be darkened and parts lightened.  When I was dodging and burning I also changed the opacity level of that tool, because having it set at 100% seemed a bit too heavy handed.

Watching presentations like this are very interesting to me, because it is just a glimpse of what goes on inside a zoo.  Inside is the theme for this week’s photo challenge at WordPress, so you can click here to see other interpretations.

I love/hate my photography club

I belong to a large camera club that is awesome, except for when it isn’t 🙂  Like when my photo gets a good review from the judge but then passed in the first round.  This was the fate of my entry last night:

A bit frustrating.  I like to go though, because there is always something new to be learned and I find that exciting.

Next week’s theme is architecture.  I am entering the photo below, but I know the competition will be tough.  I have seen some of the past winning images, and they are really something else.

ISO 200 f/7.1 1/450

This image was taken with my point and shoot in jpeg.  So, I didn’t have a heck of a lot to work with in post editing.  It is the Steam Clock in Vancouver.  Can you believe that my Canon 50D broke on a train ride across the Rockies to Vancouver?  I was too stunned to be heartbroken.

Anyway, about the post editing.  I use GIMP.  I really don’t have the whole dodge/burn thing down.  I have been trolling youtube for GIMP tutorials, but haven’t come across one yet on this particular topic that speaks to me.  If anyone else has a GIMP tutorial that they love, I would love the link.

Cheers!