Whimsie is about two and a half years old in this picture. Which – arguably – is well past the realm of baby. It’s just not hard to think of her as such, especially seeing her with big mama Tinga and giant dad Jim while they forage for some greens tactically placed by the care staff in the habitat for enrichment.
Exposing pictures of dark black animals is up there with wildlife shots in the snow in terms of difficulty and/or compromise. there’s no right way to do it. This grass was far greener in person, but exposing it properly put Whimsie too deep in the shadows for the dynamic range of the Pentax k-50’s sensor. I wanted the detail in the hair and the eyes, so that’s what I exposed for. Like I said, no right way. Just choices to be made.
I’d like to note that the Lowland Gorillas have the easiest to remember scientific name in the world: Gorilla gorilla gorilla. If they were buffalo, the name would be a full sentence.
The Zootographer 