Daysleepers 2010 Project: A-Z Animals (updated with all picks so far)

Daysleeper40

Daysleeper40

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Fi
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Hello All,

Well I've been wracking my brain since Jan 1st over what kind of personal project I would like to do this year. I took part in the 2009 52 and while it was great fun and helped me improve my photography it didn't leave me a huge amount of time to focus on the kind of photography I really enjoy - I was always too busy trying to get my weekly shot. I've been struggling for inspiration this year and being honest I havn't really picked up my camera for a couple of months. But all that changed today...

I finally decided on my personal project last week and today I have had my first outing. Theme for the year is A-Z of Animals. Rules:

1. "Animals" covers everything from fish / mammels / bugs / birds / even extinct ones like dinosaurs (can you tell I've been thinking about "X" already!).
2. I must take at least one shot for each letter of the alphabet.
3. Animals may be captive or wild.

I'm not going to try to post them in order - the idea for this thread is to share how I am getting along throughout the year and hopefully get some feedback on the shots I have taken. My intention is to put together a photobook at the end of the year with at least - but not limited to - one shot for each letter.

Coming up - shots from my first proper photography outing of 2010... :)
 
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My first trip today was to Marwell Wildlife and as I said in my first post this is the first time I've been out with my camera this year and I really wasn't expecting much... which is exactly what I got! Light wasn't great and I took a variety of poor - average standard zoo shots.

My favourite from the day also happens to begin with "A":

Amur Leopard (Named Akin):


I have had a rummage through the other shots I took and also have a couple of options for "C" & "O":

Coati:




Ostrich:


So my main question from these shots is - how do you make a Zoo photo interesting? I will be putting in some effort at capturing some native wildlife this year but we love a zoo trip and I enjoy taking zoo photos so they will also feature heavily. I need to start thinking about capturing more unique shots (as well as improving the technical / skill side of things obviously).

Anyone got any tips or feedback?
 
Zoo shots are always a difficult one for me.
What I like in an animal shot is to see them in their natural environment, but just by their nature zoos are a staged setting - even the very best zoos that focus on preservation and education are never going to be a totally natural environment.

And that makes zoo shots hard for me. Aesthetically I'd love to see an image that looks like the animal is in the wild . . . but part of me then wonders whether it's better just to show an honest depiction of what's there even if that means compromising a little.

And that didn't help you at all did it? :lol: :lol: :lol:

This is a great idea for your project though. I'm really looking forward to seeing you find your own style for animal shots.
And the ones that you've posted so far are a great start.

The leopard is the pick of the set for me. Lovely eye contact and very nicely composed.
The ostrich is a close second though. Technically it's brilliant. Really sharp, loads of detail and great catchlights in his eye.
I'm just not too sure about the crop - I think I'd have liked to see a bit more of him if you know what I mean.
 
SarahLee said:
Zoo shots are always a difficult one for me.
What I like in an animal shot is to see them in their natural environment, but just by their nature zoos are a staged setting - even the very best zoos that focus on preservation and education are never going to be a totally natural environment.

And that makes zoo shots hard for me. Aesthetically I'd love to see an image that looks like the animal is in the wild . . . but part of me then wonders whether it's better just to show an honest depiction of what's there even if that means compromising a little.

And that didn't help you at all did it? :lol: :lol: :lol:

This is a great idea for your project though. I'm really looking forward to seeing you find your own style for animal shots.
And the ones that you've posted so far are a great start.

The leopard is the pick of the set for me. Lovely eye contact and very nicely composed.
The ostrich is a close second though. Technically it's brilliant. Really sharp, loads of detail and great catchlights in his eye.
I'm just not too sure about the crop - I think I'd have liked to see a bit more of him if you know what I mean.
Click to expand...

Thanks Sarah - I do get what you are saying. I don't know how but hopefully I will be able to develop some kind of style of zoo photography by doing this. I'm also going to try to include some "wild and free" shots but realistically I'm not going to be jetting off on safari so I'm going to have to work with what's available!

I'm glad you like the shot of Akin - he is my favourite Marwell resident :love:

I do have one confession - that ostrich scares the bejeezus out of me :eek: I'm not brave enough to hang around too long where he is concerned!
 
I've just spotted your thread and it's great to have you back in this forum. :wave: :wave::wave:

It's a really interesting project you've come up with and I've been pondering on how you photograph zoo animals - as natural as possible v. as is - and haven't come up with any realistic ideas, apart from steering away from zoos as much as possible, or using post processing to find a distinctive style. If I remember rightly, you did some stunning stuff on last year's 52. :)

I presume you're thinking about non-zoo animals/birds/bugs etc and it's surprising how much wildlife there is even in city centres, day and night.

Anyway, it's an exciting project, not least because it's getting you out and about again with your camera. Very best of luck - and have lots of fun. I look forward to seeing more animal letters. :thumbs:

As for the ones you've posted, I agree with Sarah about the leopard and the ostrich. Both lovely shots. :)

Jean
 
favourited this thread as i can't wait to see what you come up with, you've began brilliantly (my fav is the first shot of the coati) and i do love animals, perfect!
 
OK I admit that I missed this thread.

However, you have plenty of other letters on your flickr. Why aren't they posted? :bat:

Akin and the ostrich are my favourite of the ones you have posted. A bit of fill flash would give a catchlight in their eyes though. They look a little dark without it.

Andy
 
Oops - I seem to have forgotten about this thread!

I do indeed have lots of other shots on my flickr and I really need to sort through and start making some decisions about what I am going to use for each letter.

I will be back and posting up the decisions soon :thumbs:
 
Well when I said soon... I obviously lied. BUT I have still been working on this project all year and I'm whittling the photo's down now. I have lots of options for some letters and nothing for others.

Off to Colchester zoo tomorrow to hopefully get a bit cloer to finishing but at the moment these are what I have (some are place-holders that I'm not all that happy with):

A is for Ant (hoping to replace this with an Amur Leopard shot tomoorow!)

Ant by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

B is for Blue Spiny Lizard

Blue Spiny Lizard by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

C is for Cheetah

Cheetah by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

D is for Dwarf Mongoose

BDSC_0320 by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

E is for Elephant

Elephant by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

F if for Fiji Banded Iguana

Fiji Banded Iguana by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

more to come...
 
N is for New Guinea Singing Dog (not happy with this one - any other N suggestions are welcome!)

New Guinea Singing Dog by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

O is for Oriental Small Clawed Otter

Oriental Small-Clawed Otter 5 by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

P is for Purple Swamphen

Purple Swamphen by Daysleeper40, on Flickr


Q is for nothing at the moment - maybe I'll find a quail tomorrow :shrug:


R is for Ring Tailed Lemur

Ring Tail Lemur by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

S is for Seven Spot Ladybird

Seven Spot Ladybird by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

T is for Tamarin

Tamarin (Cotton Top) by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

Nearly there...
 
U is for nothing at the moment and I'm REALLY struggling with this one...


V is for Vulture

Vulture by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

W is for White Faced Owl

White Faced Owl by Daysleeper40, on Flickr


X is for... well god only knows to be honest!! :help:


Y is for Yellow Mongoose

Yellow Mongoose by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

AND Z is obviously for Zebra - I am not at all happy with this shot though.

Zebra by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

So I've got my work cut out tomoorow to get some of these more difficult letters and improve of some of these shots. Wish me luck!
 
Good luck... You've set yourself a tall challenge to nail those difficult letters to the standard of these... Good work on these. All excellent... are you going to make them into a book when done ?
 
jgs001 said:
Good luck... You've set yourself a tall challenge to nail those difficult letters to the standard of these... Good work on these. All excellent... are you going to make them into a book when done ?
Click to expand...

Thanks John - a photobook is indeed the idea but I am fast running out of time with these difficult letters.

Didn't do so well yesterday - so far looking at my shots I think I only managed to get one of my totally missing letters:

I... for Iguana


Iguana by Daysleeper40, on Flickr

On the other hand I have a couple of promising options for "A" with African Lions and Andean Condor. Will have to see how the PP goes.
 
They're both great... The Iguana is my fave
 
:clap: Well done Fi - these are looking great. I hope you get the missing ones - this will make a fantastic photobook when it's complete.
I've already seen your ant one, but to pick out a couple of others to comment on :

- The vulture is absolutely beautiful. Not only is it a technically superb, but I had no idea that vultures were such attractive animals. The colours are stunning.

- It's simple and understated, but the ladybird is also a standout photo for me. Most of the ladybird shots I've seen have blown reflections on their carapace (I think that's the right word?) but you've handled the lighting and reflections here brilliantly.

- You've gone for an unusual angle with the elephant by shooting from behind, but it works perfectly with his pose. Really well spotted. I love the way that his trunk is stretched out so that he fills the width of the frame and you've still managed to get enough of his eye in to maintain that connection with him :thumbs:

- The crocodile is another favourite of mine. The focus on the eye, the reflection and just the right amount of DoF all come together brilliantly.
And I love both the lemurs (G&R) too. They're one of my favourite animals, and you've done a fantastic job of catching those GORGEOUS eyes and personalities.

If you're planning on reshooting any, it's the quail and the kestrel that I'd most like to see revisited. Although good, they're not quite of the same quality as the rest of them.
As for X . . . do you have any friends that keep tropical fish? X-Ray tetras are always popular aquarium additions. If you don't have fishy friends ;) you could always try visiting your local tropical fish shop and trying to get a couple of shots.
 
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