Black-Tongued Gibbon ;^)
by Ashley Vincent
Canon EOS 7D, EF 500mm f/4L IS USM, Shutter Priority @ f/4 (1/200 sec), +1/3 EV, ISO 320, Lens Supported on Knees While Sitting Down, Cropped about 15% in Total from Upper and RH Edges, Captive Subject
Moving onto the third of the four islands in this series taken at my local zoo – having introduced you previously to the Pileated Gibbons (female and male) residing on the first, and one of the pair of Agile Gibbons on the second – here on the third island we have the White-Cheeked Gibbon, though heaven knows why anyone would give it such a name, surely Black-Tongued Gibbon would be far more appropriate ;^p
This cute little fella is actually the male of the species, and only reason I'm introducing you to him first is that I haven't yet gotten round to developing shots of his wife, but chances are you'll get to meet her next :^)
Appreciation expressed always brings a smile to my face, although suggestions, pointers, and advice will probably do me more good; whatever anyone has to offer by way of feedback though will be greatly appreciated, and thanks in advance :^)
Comments
13 commentsNice job exposing the blacks and whites
Luke: I tried to desaturate the pink from the RH side of the frame, but it seemed to negatively effect the same colour channels in the fur of the subject, so I left it as is, but I hear what you're saying ;^)
Now this one looks like he has something to say, or is saying it. Except for the open mouth and wavering tongue one could say it almost looks wise. Must be the white "beard".
In any case, a fine portrait.
Lon: In line with your suggestion, I've cropped another version as you'll hopefully see here. Don't have time this morning to completely rework this from the original RAW so this crop from the PSD might have caused some compression issues when I converted it to JPEG, but all I really wanted to show is how this image would look in portrait for now.
I still like the landscape version, however, I have to admit seeing it in portrait like this is also very appealing to my eye, not least of all because this completely eliminates those undesirable colours in the BG as well as the somewhat distracting blurred shapes. Interested in knowing your thoughts on this though.
BTW, much as I wanted to "allow the other arm to become a line to the lower left of the frame", I thought it more important to allow enough space on the RH side to ensure that the LH side of the subject's head hairs not be clipped too much, and although I could have stretched the LH side of the frame out even more, leaving the RH side in place, I really much prefer rectangular frames to ones that appear to be more boxy, if you know what I mean.
Wayne: While there are other primates in actual enclosures, so,me with wire mesh fences to keep them in, the Gibbons on these islands actually have a lot more freedom to move around both on the ground and through their trees. The Pileated and Agile Gibbons seem to much prefer being the trees, while the White-Cheeked Gibbons seem equally comfortable sitting and even walking upright on the ground.
Here ya' go :^)
did you get a lens upgrade??
In answer to your question, I did upgrade my lens but this was back in December. Last September I bought a Canon 300mm f/2.8 and thought this would be perfect for most of my needs when coupled with my 2x TC, but after two and a half months I realised I'd have to bite the bullet and admit this set-up is far from perfect. So I went back to my Canon dealer in Bangkok, explained the situation, and went for their offer of a brand new 500mm f/4 in exchange for my relatively new 300 + an older 100-400L IS and some extra cash ... just to make sure they'd still be in business next time I came up to visit ;^p
Would have saved a fair bit of money had I bought the 500 in the first place, but leaning from experience, effective as it is, is rarely ever a cheap affair ;^)