Gorilla Deep In Thought

[lrmat]

<a href="http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh161/laurel1324/?action=view&current=Calgary106600x450.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh161/laurel1324/Calgary106600x450.jpg" border="0" alt="Deep In Thought"></a>

This photo was taken at the zoo. I am trying for pictures that are natural. Just wondering how I am doing.

Exposure time 1/640
Aperture f/6.3
focal length 45.6m
iso 400

[FocalFrenzy]

This is a good capture, but needs a little work to make it "Pop".
I don't know if you have a photo editing program or not, but I use GIMP. It's FREE, and there are alot of tutorials available here on DPS, as well as online. I opened your image, increased the color saturation, lassoed the gorilla, and lightened him up a little. I then used the "Auto" option to adjust the white balance. This is what I came up with, (in under 5 minutes). If, for any reason, you would not like your images edited by others on this site, just say so, and I'll remove my edit. I hope this helps to show you some possible fixes, however, if you use a higher F value (F/11 for instance), to get more of the image in focus, and set your EV (exposure value) to -1.5 to -2.0 for shots in bright sunlight, you can avoid having to compensate in post processing. Bracketing your shots will sometimes give you an ideally exposed image, without having to manually adjust your EV. Thanks for posting.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/21002727@N06/2300578268/" title="Calgary106600x450a by FocalFrenzy, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3105/2300578268_15def52783.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Calgary106600x450a" /></a>

[windrider86]

Please be sure to ask a specific question that you are looking for in a critique. Such as color, composition, exposure, crop etc.
Thanks!

[shawngrimes]

Because your shot was metered based on the sunlight, I think you lose some of the details in the gorilla's chest. Like FocalFrenzy said, bracketing your shot would have allowed you to combine several shots to get the best lighting for each area.