Sea World Part 4

I really did take a lot of penguin photos during our visit to Sea World.  I was going to do my final project for my photography class on various animals from the zoo and Sea World, but I have changed my project to something else now.  The new topic fits better with my new schedule.  But I am sure to be visiting these places soon for more photos!

Really, can I have any more penguin photos? I just love them!  I really am hoping to do some of their special behind the scene encounters, make some special dates with the husband since our daughter is too young for most or all of them.

I don't think I have shared these polar bear ones. Another magical creature.

Okay, so I think this is a sea lion, could be a seal.  This little one was being so loud and pushy with requesting fish from all the onlookers.  He/she was perched up on a rock and super close to the level of the glass blocker.  Just hooting and a hollering for all the attention and food.  I didn't notice the goo on its nose till I was editing.  Its too funny not to share.

Odd Interpretations

I was going through my photo editing software wanting to clear out all my photos to start fresh again.  I was removing those I didn't want to attempt editing on and editing the rest before I removed them.  It was fun to just play around and try a little bit of everything or anything to see what it would come out like for each photo.

The above gorilla photo is my interpretation of Pop Art, inspired by Andy Warhol.  It may not be for everyone, but there is something about how I edited this that I just love.  I'm typically not a big Pop Art fan, I tend to lean toward more subdue colors, but this just stands out to me.  What do you think, a good edit or not so much?

The above photo is fairly freaky looking, perfect for the upcoming Halloween holiday.  This photo is actually of some wild mushrooms that I took back in Washington DC with my then brand new macro lens.  I had not really looked through those photos until I started clearing out the software. Its an odd edit effect, but I like it.  What do you think?

 

The orchid and purple flower are not really odd, but I think the editing is more on the bold side.

This above shot is of the Potomac River in Washington DC.  I added this special effect to make it pop and stand out.

These roses are actually white but with an addition of special editing, I was able to change the color.

A Glimpse of Cody & Tyler

Last night after watering the rose bushes out front, I decided to grab my camera and take some pictures.  I figured it was a great opportunity to try out my new lens and flash at night.  It was pitch black out with just the outside house lights on.  After getting a few frames done, I gave up and came inside to where my husband was packing for his training.  He leaves in the morning for the rest of the month.

Well, our dogs know what packing means.  And they were not happy at all last night.  I decided to lay on the floor and snap away at their very sad faces.  My new lens is a 50mm, which blurs the background - or what parts are not in focus - hence the heavy blurring of most of their faces.  But I like the look it created.

All the above photos, and the one below are of Cody.  Our big boy and our lover boy.  Everything in the world scares him, he loves to cuddle, and is super emotional.  Right now, he is somewhat sick.  Something has been bothering his skin since we moved into this new house, and he has given himself horrid hot spots - licking till there is no fur and an infected wound.  He has been having to wear a cone most of the time for weeks now and is on his second round of medications.  Hopefully we can get this resolved after these new ones heal up good.

Now Tyler.  The baby.  Well, he acts that way anyhow.  He is the smaller one that thinks he is huge.  If I tell him to protect mommy he goes on the hunt for bugs.  Its so cute! He barks at almost everything. And shoves his way into getting attention.  Attention hog is putting it nicely.

Tyler is our bottomless pit.  We have to watch how many special treats he gets since he will eat until he throws it back up.  Which also limits what he is allowed to have. He is my silly boy.

And one last one of Cody:

Sea World Part 3

Hey all, sorry for the delay in getting this up.  Its been a little off balance here lately.  Today is my catch up day on everything.  I got to do some editing last night and have some new photos to share with you all.  And it looks like I will need to do at least a part 4 if not a 5 with how many I edited last night!!  So, look for those coming soon.

Baby Gorillas are just way too cute!!!

Flamingos are a magical looking creature.  I'm not sure what it is about them - what do you think it is?

The above photo is not specially edited to have some in gray colors, that is the actual color of some of the flamingos.  I think they have not achieved their pinkness yet due to age.  I could be wrong though...

Getting photos of the killer whales is actually really hard!!  Its something I will have to go back many times to practice.  The above was taken during the Shamu show.  A lot of my photos have the trainers in them (as you can see in the below photo), which in some cases turned out already, but their absence would have been much better.  You have to be super quick with a very fast shutter speed to get the good photos.

Looks like there will be many more San Diego Zoo and Sea World photos in the coming weeks.  My current photography class has a final assignment and mine will be a sequence of photos of the animals in black and white.  I'm really excited about this assignment.  Sadly, I can not sell any of the Zoo photos due to their copyright laws - yes, even on photos I have taken - and their licensing agreements are way out of reasonability for me at this moment, but I can share them with you here.

Sea World Part 2

Another favorite part of Sea World is the Sea Lion exhibit.  You can buy a paper plate of fish to feed them. I let my husband do that part for me.  I don't like touching fish at all, I don't even like smelling or eating fish.  Just looking at the live ones!  Its so fun watching them scour for the food.  To watch the different personalities.  Some don't care at all and just hang out doing their own thing.  Some are in your face screaming for it, others hang back and give a little sign of "hey you, over here", and some do the cutest little tricks and beg with all their might.  Then there are the birds trying to steal the fish at the same time.

The above guy was just way too adorable.  He was the sitting back with a slight nod of 'hey you". He would just stick his little flipper up out of the water and wave.  Of course we had to share the fish with this cutie!

These two were so snuggled up looking just so elegant and beautiful that I had to snap a lot of shots of them and try some different editing techniques.

Can't forget the amazing Sea Turtles!

Sea World

Yesterday, we spent a long 5 hours at Sea World San Diego for our daughter's 2nd birthday.  It was a good way to spend the day, and she had fun. Though she is a tad young to really show it.

The penguin encounter was one of the last exhibits we went to.  It was a treat, an air conditioned indoor exhibit, and boy did I need the cooling off.  And my monopod stayed cold for a little while after we left to help add to my cooling down.  I could have spent hours there taking photos of them.  It was hard to get shots of them underwater with all the people there.  The exhibit has a conveyor belt in front of it and a raised platform behind that.  I had to sit on the back of the bench to raise me high enough to avoid getting people's heads in my shots.

Outside of the dolphins, my favorite animals are the Polar Bears, Walrus, and Beluga Whales.  It was very busy, so getting photos was very hard - especially the underwater ones.  I really need to go during the week when maybe its not so busy.  They are magically beautiful.  I think for our anniversary this year we are going to do the special encounter with them verse going out to eat at some boring restaurant.

I don't want to make this blog go on forever, so I will make this a numerous series like the zoo ones I did.  Look for more to come soon!