Wildlife Heritage Foundation

Hi There

Took part today in a photographic visit to the Wildlife Heritage Foundation organised by OPF moderator John Nevill.

A group of 13 photographers had special access to the big cats and could get right upto the wire, under suitable supervision of the foundation staff. It was a very enjoyable with lots of opportunities to get shots of big cats impossible at normal zoos and parks.

I post below 4 shots taken of the cats.

As always comments and critiques welcome

John

Shot 1 Xizi - Female Amur Leopard - Worlds most endangered cat species in the wild.

EOS 1D MKIIN EF 500mm F4L 1/640 @ F4.5 ISO 400



Shot 2 Indy - Bengal Hybrid Tiger.

EOS 1D MKIIN EF 500mm F4L 1/500 @ F10.0 ISO 200



Shot 3 Pepo - Male Cheetah

EOS 1D MKIIN EF 500mm F4L 1/1000 @ F5.6 ISO 400



Shot 4 Tiny - Male African Lion

EOS 1D MKIIN EF 500mm F4L 1/1600 @ F5.0 ISO 400

these are all outstanding shots john!!
but #2 of the tiger running in with eyes focused right on the camera...well, that's downright scary!! that's quite a shot!!

John,

These are wonderful portraits of impressively handsome cats! I wonder whether they have a successful breeding program or just look after the animas they manage to get. Is this run by a charity, hence the word "Trust" or is it also govenment supported?

The cats seem remarkably healthy and well cared for. Interesting to see ice of the ground. The bengal tiger dripping water as it runs forward is a reall thrill to see like this!

The 500 mm lens seems greatly suited for your shots. What distance from the lens was the fence for you to get it to be out of focus? I'm impressed that there's still a pretty good DOF in the animals at f 4.0.

Did you have any shorter lenses and did you use a tripod? A lot of questions, but then this is work I like! I'd encourage you to post more if you have the time. This is most enjoyable.
Thanks for sharing,

Asher

John,

I just visited the Wild Heritage Foundation's website and it's worth spending time at. They appear to be very well organized and dedicated to ensuring the survival and genetic diversity of these great cats. We shouldn't take for granted that such beauty will be around unless we support projects like this. I'm going to put this on my list!

I hope we get everyone who visited with you to show here the richness of these wild animals. This so much more impressive than anything man made!

Asher

Amazing shots of these big cats! Fun to come home from watching the tigers at the SF Zoo's member night and see these. I realize how hard they are to take and you did a great job. Thanks very much for sharing.

Asher Kelman said:

John,

These are wonderful portraits of impressively handsome cats! I wonder whether they have a successful breeding program or just look after the animas they manage to get. Is this run by a charity, hence the word "Trust" or is it also govenment supported?

The cats seem remarkably healthy and well cared for. Interesting to see ice of the ground. The bengal tiger dripping water as it runs forward is a reall thrill to see like this!

The 500 mm lens seems greatly suited for your shots. What distance from the lens was the fence for you to get it to be out of focus? I'm impressed that there's still a pretty good DOF in the animals at f 4.0.

Did you have any shorter lenses and did you use a tripod? A lot of questions, but then this is work I like! I'd encourage you to post more if you have the time. This is most enjoyable.
Thanks for sharing,

Asher

Click to expand...

Hi Asher

Glad you like the shots, it was the 1st time i had heard of the place but John Nevill had arranged a trip so i tagged along. Everyone had a great day and i hope got some terrific photos. The staff could not have been more helpful in trying to get the cats in positions suitable for pictures. But as you can imagine the cats pretty much do what they want!!

I love the 500mm lens, i have found it to be the best compromise between weight and reach, and it is handholdable for short periods. Most of these shots were with it mounted onto a Manfrotto monopod, with a Kirk BH1 ball head on top, so that i did not have to keep removing the Wimberley P40 plate that i have on the lens foot.

Distance to the fence did vary. Sometimes i was right against it, other times i was some 4 to 6 feet away. I would say that to get it to be right out of focus you need to be within 3 feet assuming the subject is a further 6 feet or so away. The mesh was some 3" square so if you had a smaller diameter front element you could push it right through. I had my 70-200mm 2.8 with me which i did use for some shots of the lions feeding at the beginning of the day. But apart from that i stayed with the 500mm.

DOF on the 500 can be a problem, as can focusing on the eyes rather than the nose, when the cats are close to you. The 500mm closest focus distance is 4.5 metres about 15 feet so when they get to that sort of range, and if you are shooting wide open you have only a few inches depth of field.

I will post some other shots taken on the day, and one of the lions feeding so you can see that the shorter focal length is more of a problem with the wire mesh.

John

Great reply John!

Are you in communication with others in the photoshoot, as they might also wish to share some of their catches of the day. I almost felt, "Why wasn't I invited!" We have a wildlife station near here and maybe we can arrange a tour too.

Asher

Asher

Following on from the earlier comments in the thread, I now post some shots showing the problems when you don't throw the fencing mesh completely out of focus.

Shots 1 & 2 are of the African Lions being fed their 3 day ration of raw meat. Its certainly something to behold to watch these magnificent creatures crunching on bone and meat some 6 feet away from you.

As you can probably see the lower section of the frame has an area of reduced contrast compared to the rest of the frame. This is a section of the mesh fencing and although well out of focus it has had an impact on the picture.

These 2 shots were taken with a 70-200 F2.8 zoom lens at around 150mm focal length. Now as i am sure that everyone knows the wider the focal length of the lens, the greater the depth of field will be at any given aperture. So while the 500mm wide open throws the fence out completely at a 150mm focal length it is noticeable even though i had the lens pressed right against the mesh.

Shot 3 is of the male Amur Leopard who was a bit rowdier than Xizi. Now despite being on the 500mm you can see the impact of the mesh running across his nose, again an area of reduced contrast. this one wasn't shot wide open at F4 but at F7.1 and i was not right up against the mesh with this one either, as we had been warned that his paws were small enough to reach through the mesh and he might try to bag himself some camera equipment, complete with photographer attached!!

Shot 4 is a close up head shot of the African Lion once again. This one illustrates the very limited depth of filed you get at wide apertures with the 500mm lens. this was shot at F5.0 2/3rds of a stop down from wide open.
As you can probably see his eyes are in focus but his nose has drifted outside the available depth of field. A distance of maybe 6 inches. So focus is critical with a lens this long and using wide apertures.

Here endeth the lesson, and should i have made any errors in my description or understanding of the points i am trying to illustrate, please accept my apologies and let me know where i went wrong !

John


Shot 1



Shot 2



Shot 3



Shot 4

John, I really like your shots, especially No.2. I find this quite unique as it doesn't suffer from that typical "zoo animal feel". While the other shots are nice, there is something in the eyes that just shows that these are captive animals. There is this sadness, or longing, in the eyes. I don't get that feeling from No.2, which is why I like it so much. Well done!

Great shots John and glad you liked the day.

WHF is quite a unique place. The owner Mark, former Director of Marwell Zoo, started the place as a refuge for (re)tired zoo animals.

Breeding is quite complex and relies upon genetic matching and long waiting lists. They are hoping to breed some Tigers and Leopards next year and then introduce some back into the wild, although its a 3 year programme.

Its quite sad to think that there's less than 30 Amur Leopards in the wild.

Anyhow I'll leave with a shot of the Lion King, courtesy of John's EF 500.