Western Lowland Gorilla | D3 High ISO test

[Ric Kasnoff]

• NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3
• ƒ/4
• 240mm
• 1/25s
• ISO 1600
• Fri, 18 January 2008 2:24 PM

for my 1st post for critique I thought I'd put up something I shot yesterday while testing my D3 at the local Zoo...Wanted to see how it felt to shoot all day @ iso 1600...bottom line: felt great ;-p

Tech specs: Typical Seattle winter day...overcast and drizzly...she was well in an open ended enclosure behind tinted glass, D3 200-400/4vr, iso 1600, f4@1/25th (no typo it really was 1/25th ;-p) cloned out a branch in her hand and de-saturated in PS

Thanks for looking...glad I found this group...Looking forward to comments

...Ric

 

[DanWalters]

Lookks very nice in BW. Maybe use the shadow/highlight tool to bring out a little more detail in the eys and the left side.

 

[Ed Cordes]

Very nice. Looks like 1600 is good. The image could be a tad brighter - not much. I guess I am also too much of a traditionalist in that I miss the top of the head.

 

[D. Robert Franz]

Sure would like to see this posted at the 800px maximum.. Interesting image for sure. The desaturated look seems to work here. I would really liked to have seen this in a vertical format with the entire head visible and cropped below the hands... In the landscape format just perhaps having a bit more room all around and the gorllla a bit more left in the frame would work also...

 

[Ric Kasnoff]

• NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3
• 200.0-400.0 mm f/4.0
• ƒ/4
• 240mm
• 1/25s
• ISO 1600
• Ric Kasnoff
• Fri, 18 January 2008 2:24 PM
• ©'08 Ric Kasnoff | ecophoto
• Adobe Photoshop Lightroom

Thanks for the comments...

Dan - there's detail under the eyebrows that apparent in a larger version...the deep shadows support the directionality of the light and mood for me and opening them up any more just didn't feel right

Ed - Yeah 1600 is the new 400 as far as I'm concerned...even processed in LR instead of Capture...This is full frame and for me it was about the expression and the eyes so no top of head doesn't bother me...I tend to do that alot...even in my people stuff

Robert - started desaturating to get rid of the color cast from the safety glass and liked what I saw too...here's a version at 800 px...had to drop the compression quality a bit to get there so please keep that in mind as you look...my verticals just didn't seem to have the impact that this full frame horizontal does...all the leading lines and diagonals seem to call out for this (in-camera) framing to me...

Thanks...Ric

 

[Anita Rakestraw]

I really like this, Ric, including your crop of the top of the head. B&W seems perfect, nice moodiness. Love the lighting. My first thought is for a vertical presentation, too, but respect your decision that in this case horizontal looked better.

 

[Georgina Salup]

Beautiful portrait of my favorite Primate! I wish she was looking at the camera, but gorillas seldom look at the eyes.