Photographing Animals

I have mentioned in past posts that one of my favorite places to take my camera is the zoo. Our local zoo is fantastic but it's great fun and exciting to visit other cities for a change of scenery and often times, different animals. I love shooting animals with a camera but it is not an easy task in the wild and the required equipment can be very costly. I have a favorite camera and lens for my zoo shooting and they work out quite well. I use a Nikon digital slr body and I have an old Nikon 70-300 zoom lens that I once used on my film cameras. Since the older Nikon body has a small sensor the lens is magnified by .5, turning it into a 105-450mm. The greater magnification is awesome and the aged lens is tack sharp. However; it does not have anti-vibration and tri-pods are cumbersome so I have learned to improvise. I use my camera bag for support on railings and always take bean bags in different sizes to brace the lens. This system works pretty well and doesn't interfere with others who are attempting to view the particular animal that I am set up for. The images that I have chosen for this month's post are all color prints that I have transferred to black and white. I have also used a line drawing effect on them to give more of an artwork look. I could use some feedback on the effect; pro or con. Thanks for looking in and please leave a comment.

All Eyes

Alpha

Ellie

Reticulation

Safe Haven

Stripes

Wings

Zebra Plateau