Comparison in a picture

[Seltzer]

I went out to the St Louis zoo recently and came out rather happy with a lot of the pictures I took. This is one that I think I could have done better with but I'm not sure what else I should have tried for a comparison picture for one focal point in front and one behind glass. I do find it amusing that she is visibly not comfortable near the snake.



Thoughts? Suggestions?
The rest of my zoo pictures from that trip can be found here.

[Breathephoto]

Hi Seltzer...

A couple of things I can think of. First, whenever shooting people, I always try to hit the focus point right on their eyes, as that seems to be a point of interest for attention to naturally be drawn to. Your subject looks slightly soft around the eyes and face, which is a shame for a lovely girl. If you were using your rebel xt, I can understand what happened, because there are no autofocus points in that region on the camera sensor. It's one of my only complaints about the XT!

Secondly... if you're really crazy and you have a very willing and outgoing model (that's doubtful given her expression!) you could have had her sit on that ledge (I think it's a ledge) right next to the snake and draw into a curl to sort of emulate the animal. I think that would have made for a neat shot... but then again, maybe I'm just weird!

I think you did a great job considering the lighting was probably horrible in that area, and you needed some depth of field to hit both subjects.

[Seltzer]

Thanks for the thoughts. I was playing with another friend's lens that day on MF and I hadn't yet learned the joys of focusing on the eyes of the person, I have been trying to apply that lately and I think my Christmas pictures came out a lot better.
Actually that thought about the being curled up sounds amusing to me, I may try again when we make it back out there. Maybe taking the picture more directly towards the glass and having her stand on the other side would have cut down on the reflections as well but IIRC the snake was blocked a little by the wall when going straight on.

[greer]

Zoos are definitely a difficult environment for photos (tough lighting, animals too far away etc, etc). The way you captured the expression on your subject really makes the photo.

I find the reflection on the glass to be a bit distracting though. I wonder if there was another angle you could have selected to avoid or minimize the reflections.