Geoff shoots the world

A Red Panda, an Alligator, a Zebra’s mane and a couple of Tigers – Paradise Wildlife Park

geoffwatt — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:16:10 +0000

Red panda’s are cute, alligators don’t move much, the zebras were too close and I couldn’t be bothered changing lenses and besides, the background was a fence, and tiger’s, like all cats, don’t do much except sleep and wash and when they are awake don’t like opening their eyes much, no matter how long you wait.

Evidently wildlife photography is 99% patience 0.09% skill and 0.01% kit, and that’s just in a zoo! I can’t wait to try this in the actual wild!

If this post sounds like I didn’t enjoy myself, that was not my intention, Paradise Wildlife Park is a great place and we had a lot of fun wandering about, but I’ve had a beer or two and my already heightened sarcasm get’s multiplied with every sip I have.

What I did learn is that, unlike travel and landscape photography, getting it right in camera is WAY more important. There is much less margin for error, if half a red pandas face is blown out you’re screwed, you need to lock that exposure down. You have to get your composition spot on, sure, you can crop a bit if needed but that only helps so much. These two points are made all the more difficult by the fact that your subjects are moving, mountains tend to stay still, cheetahs do not. And you have to be much more subtle in post production, my usual heavy application of clarity/structure, contrast and saturation had to be dialed right back.

Please excuse the flair in the last shot, it was taken through a window.

Forgotten Paris

geoffwatt — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:20:27 +0000

So I’ve been going through my Lightroom catalogue these last few weeks trying to clean it up, deleting a lot of crud etc. I stumbled upon these shots from a day trip we did to Paris in November 2011. This was the last time I used my old Canon Eos 450d before getting my current camera body.

I’ve actually posted 2 shots from this trip in February last year but had swiftly forgotten about the rest, so here’s a select few, hastily edited during my lunch break today. The first two I believe are inside Notre Dame, the seagull shot is pretty obvious and the last two are of Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

Meerkats – Paradise Wildlife Park

geoffwatt — Wed, 15 May 2013 18:17:36 +0000

Everybody loves Meerkats, Paradise Wildlife Park even had some pups when we were there. I learned that bright sunlight and white fur plays havoc with a cameras exposure meter and you need to be extra careful you’re not blowing out the highlights, I’m not sure if a polariser would help…

Also, their dark eyes and dark rings around their eyes (to help prevent glare in the bright desert sun) create black hell pits in photo’s of them! A fair bit of dodging was needed to bring out a little detail in the eyes!

Dorset Coast

geoffwatt — Mon, 13 May 2013 19:55:57 +0000

The other weekend we stayed with family in Poole. We went on a wee whirlwind tour of the surrounding country, beaches and villages. I know I say this about everywhere I go but I could have easily spent a lot longer there.

Here’s a few of my favorite shots from the weekend.

Portland Bill Lighthouse

geoffwatt — Mon, 06 May 2013 18:19:55 +0000

I do like a good lighthouse, unfortunately you don’t get to see to many in London. This is the Portland Bill lighthouse. The light and weather were changing a lot, which made for some nice pictures. I could’ve done with a few more hours here….and a tripod

As it is I can’t decide which shot I like the best, so here’s 3.

How to eat breakfast like a Cheetah – Paradise Wildlife Park

geoffwatt — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:47:11 +0000

These guys are the 3 cheetah brothers at Paradise Wildlife Park, I forget their names as the park doesn’t list their animals names like a lot of zoos and I can’t find out anywhere else. I do remember that they were named after some famous Swedish football players (they were originally from a zoo in Sweden), or maybe Swiss…

Anyway, they had breakfast while we were there. To be honest it wasn’t to different from when I have breakfast on the weekends.

This photo essay could be about 50 photos long, but 4 should do it. As someone is bound to ask, these were all taken with a Canon EOS 7d and a 70-300mm f4-5.6L lens, the more I use this lens the more I like it.

First, wake up. A yawn helps people know you’re awake.

Then wait patiently…..for 30 seconds. After that wait impatiently.

When food arrives, share it with your loved ones, until you think they’ve had enough, then get angry.

When finished, lick your lips.

The last post from Rome

geoffwatt — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:38:54 +0000

Here’s just a few shots from the last day or two in Rome, they don’t really fit into any kind of theme, but in the interest of full disclosure…

Moto the White Lion – Paradise Wildlife Park

geoffwatt — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:38:39 +0000

This is Moto, the male White Lion at Paradise Wildlife Park. He’s just become a dad for the first time, so deserves the rest and the big yawn. The last shot is actually him roaring, the first time I’ve ever heard a Lion roar in real life. Unfortunately throughout the whole sequence I focused on his nose and his eyes are a little soft, it turns out the same basic rules apply to portraits of Lions as it does to portraits of people! So I experimented with the post processing, just because. I kinda like it, it reminds me of a picture that I think my Grandmother had hanging in her house when I was young.

The Pantheon – Rome

geoffwatt — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 18:04:15 +0000

We saved the Pantheon till last, and we were pressed for time as we had a plane to catch. I don’t think I did it justice as it’s an amazing structure, but at least I get to show the horse photo again I can’t help but want to give him a speech bubble, if anyone’s got an idea for a caption, I’m all ears.

Colosseum HDR, again!

geoffwatt — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:06:58 +0000

So, you may remember I posted this shot a while ago of an early morning HDR of the Colosseum.

Alison Shull from ArtLightNow mentioned she’d like to see the original out of camera shots shots. I’d contemplated posting them originally, and since I don’t have much else to show I’ve decided to give them their own post, happy days:

The first 3 are the original shots straight out of the camera with a bit of lens correction applied. The fourth is the end result of the 3 images being combined in Photomatix. After some general slap and tickle, generous contrast and colour adjustments in Photoshop using Nik Efex Viveza and Colour Efex 4 I ended up with my finished image.

Finally, to make this a bit more interesting to people who aren’t too interested in how a finished image comes about, and also because I need something different for the featured image on the home page, here’s another shot from the same session:

I promise, I have no more pictures of the Colosseum to show…….maybe.