Miles

I shot this portrait of Miles at the Houston Zoo last Saturday morning. He was 6'3" tall and less than a month old at the time.

I shot this with a 70-200 mm telephoto lens with a 2X teleconverter attached. Since my camera has a 1.6 crop factor, that's the equivalent in the old 35 mm film world of a 200x2x1.6, or 640 mm telephoto lens. And, I needed every bit of that telephoto power to get anywhere near close enough to get detailed wildlife shots, even at the zoo!

I was fortunate to get this shot of Miles in natural morning sunlight with another giraffe providing an interesting background. Notice that the narrow depth of field provided by the telephoto lens provides a nicely blurred background that separates well from the the subject in the foreground. It also helped that the adult giraffe was standing in a shaded area, so the the subject (Miles) stood out because of its higher brightness and contrast.

I learned that two things are required for good wildlife photography: long telephoto lenses and infinite patience! And, the former may be easier to come by, than the latter!

-CG TTL