Return to the Zoo 01

This past Saturday was perfect for going to the zoo, so took my daughter; it was a rare cool and crisp day in Houston.

Naturally I brought the Big Cahoona - my new Nikon D300s. I'm a bit more comfortable with the controls now, so shot with more confidence, without any major mistakes. Aware of the limitations of the lens, extra care was taken to check for ISO and exposure compensation whenever conditions changed.

This beauty was captured in the tropical bird house. Most of the birds were behind glass, so positioning to avoid reflections was a first concern. Sacrificing sharpness in order to fully expose coloration, the exposure compensation was set at -1/3 stop instead of -2/3, which is pretty much what I use by default now. Since the sensor in the Big Cahoona can safely handle a higher ISO, a setting of 800 was used since we were indoors. Detail was beautifully preserved in spite of the fact that this is a fairly cropped-in shot.


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Nikon D300s, AF-S DX Nikkor 18-200 mm F/3.5-5.6G ED VR II
ISO-800, f/5.6, 1/15 sec
Photo taken 02/12/11 by Jim Mahood