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Message: <blockquote data-quote="STM" data-source="post: 123289" data-attributes="member: 12827">..........and no, I did not take a trip to DC, that is the Puzzle Palace. I stopped off at our zoo in Gulf Breeze this afternoon on the way home and snapped a few photos. Gorgeous day to be outside, 60 degrees and sunny. I really wanted some of the tigers but they were just sleeping under their shelter in the shade and like typical cats I tried to get their attention and all I got was a "what the hell do you want, can't you see I'm taking an nap? Piss off!"  look. All shot with the D700 @ ISO 200. All, except the one of of the ostrich, which was shot with my 180mm f/2.8 AIS, were taken with the 600mm f/4 AIS. It allowed me to get in close and personal and the very shallow depth of field at f/5.6 blurred some busy backgrounds. That huge 2 foot long (with the lens shade) and 12 pound monster always draws quite a few stares and although I brought a monopod I just went ahead and shot everything handheld. Focusing that beast only takes your thumb anyway. And even though my microprism works just fine at f/4, focusing on the ground glass is almost just as easy since the depth of field is so shallow and the lens is contrasty. And if there is a specular highlight in the image somewhere it is really a snap, they pop right in. I was a little concerned about loss of contrast with the images because all, with the exception of the duck,were shot through fence. But it was so far out of focus with the beast that I guess it really did not affect things much. Love that classic glass!This juvenile male lion and was playing with a stick (even kicking it with his back legs) like any ordinary domestic housecat would, very cute!<img src="http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o690/photodotnet/lion1_zpsf10b08ba.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /><img src="http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o690/photodotnet/Lion2_zpsa3916e17.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Spoonbill something or another. It's a bird with a stupid looking beak.<img src="http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o690/photodotnet/Spoonbill_zps833b1bbf.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />If you have never really looked at them up close, ostriches really are butt ugly birds. There was a huge pile of ostrich eggs just sitting out in the open, I don't know if they were real or props but you could make one epic omelet out of just one of them. You could probably feed a family of 4 just on one drumstick of these huge birds<img src="http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o690/photodotnet/Ostrich_zps173af651.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />There is always one in every crowd. Every single photo I took of this giraffe, the knucklehead had that nasty black tongue sticking out.....<img src="http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o690/photodotnet/giraffe_zps3cec76c0.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Some kind of duck, who knows what kind. They pretty much all look the same to me but taste really good when broiled. You just never bite down too hard in case you did not find all the pellets.<img src="http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o690/photodotnet/duck_zps6c3fd2ee.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />Not really sure what the heck this is besides some huge rat named a Corrie or something like that. It is about as big as a medium sized dog<img src="http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o690/photodotnet/corry_zps61924859.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />My what lovely, bone crushing, flesh tearing teeth you have there Mr. Gator.....<img src="http://i1338.photobucket.com/albums/o690/photodotnet/gator_zpsb7114b91.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></blockquote>

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