Baboon-Captive

Gallery: WildlifePosted October 18, 20111,020 views21 comments

I wish I could say I made this image in the wild, but alas it was shot at the Bronx Zoo. This big old toothless guy often sits in an alcove that makes for that nice black background. You have to shoot through plexiglass which in this case had the sun hitting it. The original image was so washed out I almost trashed it. What I was able to pull out of this image using Adobe camera raw was simply amazing. I used my Nikon D700 with the 300mm f4 shot at ISO 5600, f6.3 and 1/320sec. The BW conversion was done using Nik Silver efex pro. Thanks for you comments.

Comments

21 comments

Comment posted by Youssef Ismail on October 18, 2011 at 10:16 AM

Well no matter how you did it, you did it very well. A very striking portrait of this baboon.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 474 Posts, 5555 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on October 18, 2011 at 10:34 AM

Excellent work all things considered.

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by Nicolaus Wegner on October 18, 2011 at 11:18 AM

That's the most punkish shot of any baboon I've ever seen. Great work Steve.

Registered on February 21, 2010, 133 Posts, 1509 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on October 18, 2011 at 11:32 AM

This B&W works for me! Very interesting portrait, well done. TFS.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Fabio Giarrizzo on October 18, 2011 at 1:09 PM

Great expression and a very interesting pose on this one- A great portrait, Fabio

Registered on December 3, 2010, 90 Posts, 1614 Comments

Comment posted by Holger Streu on October 18, 2011 at 2:22 PM

This photo is excellent considering the disadvantages which you had. I know, I tried in the film days to
Take a photo of a baboon in the Bronx Zoo. The details around the face area is stunning.

Registered on September 19, 2011, 50 Posts, 113 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Zimic on October 18, 2011 at 2:59 PM

In case anyone's interested, here's the original unprocessed raw image. Imagine what you'd do with this image if it was a transparency.

Registered on November 23, 2003, 176 Posts, 727 Comments

Comment posted by David Hemmings on October 18, 2011 at 3:37 PM

Excellent work to come up with this stunning b&w portrait!

Registered on May 26, 2006, 178 Posts, 1680 Comments

Comment posted by Oscar Dewhurst on October 18, 2011 at 3:38 PM

Wow - stunning tones.

Oscar

Registered on August 6, 2009, 85 Posts, 502 Comments

Comment posted by Guy Runco on October 18, 2011 at 11:20 PM

Nice shot, especially after seeing what you had to begin with. Love those eyes.

Registered on September 9, 2008, 77 Posts, 705 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on October 18, 2011 at 11:42 PM

This is a very strong portrait Steve with those curved fur textures and the well thought out composition. The conversion is superbly done as is the PS work!

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on October 19, 2011 at 8:51 AM

Hi Steve,

While I'm not normally a big fan of zoo/captive shots, I really like this. Great composition (and expression) and excellent post-processing (and I love the B&W conversion). Thumbs up on this one - big time!

Cheers...thanks a ton for sharing this beautiful portrait!

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Marcellini on October 19, 2011 at 10:13 AM

Nice! My kind of portrait.

Registered on November 27, 2007, 250 Posts, 2468 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Nichols on October 19, 2011 at 3:59 PM

Steve, thanks so much for posting the original raw file. It really helps us all to realize the potential of a raw file in the hands of someone who is skilled in post processing and has the necessary software. The pose and expression you captured in the photo is terrific and what you did with the raw file is amazing.

Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments

Comment posted by James Campbell on October 19, 2011 at 6:05 PM

Your conversion has really turned this around and it is fantastic. I really love the expression and detail, not to mention the black background. Beautiful

Registered on January 12, 2009, 48 Posts, 377 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on October 21, 2011 at 3:42 PM

Steve, really nice processing work on this. Love the conversion.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on October 27, 2011 at 1:16 PM

A testament to the powers of good post-processing..
Wonderful pose and treatment here. Exceptional detail and proof that "even" zoo shots can be compelling enough for WP's.
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on October 27, 2011 at 7:31 PM

Congratulations on this marvelous picture of yours being chosen for the WP Steve!

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Jay Levin on February 4, 2018 at 4:16 PM

A fabulous baboon portrait. The conversion is gorgeous. Truly outstanding work. I'm glad I stumbled upon this 14 years later.

Registered on April 24, 2009, 21 Posts, 184 Comments

Comment posted by Martin Dunn on February 5, 2018 at 6:03 AM

I really like this Steve.

Registered on February 20, 2013, 198 Posts, 1011 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on February 5, 2018 at 7:27 AM

Hi Steve,
Whilst I think that the processing of this image is quite remarkable.
I have the following to say this is not a Baboon, it is a Gelada!
They look a lot better in the wild, but the mountains of Ethiopia are a long way to go

The gelada (Theropithecus gelada, Amharic: ጭላዳ, translit. č̣əlada), sometimes called the bleeding-heart monkey or the gelada baboon, is a species of Old World monkey found only in the Ethiopian Highlands, with large populations in the Semien Mountains. Geladas are actually not baboons (baboons are all taxonomic members of the genus Papio) but members of their own genus Theropithecus. Theropithecus is derived from the Greek root words for "beast-ape".^[3]^[4] Like its close relatives the baboons (genus Papio), it is largely terrestrial, spending much of its time foraging in grasslands.

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments