Pentax Animal portrait samples

<p>hi Pentaxians<br>

I just finished my animal portrait session in Zurich and have a few samples here for you. I used the Pentax K10D and the Pentax F-50mm macro lens for the mini- and the woolpigs, goats and the cat and the manual Tamron SP 70-150mm F2.8 portrait zoom for the guinea-pigs. Autofocus was useless with the dark animals in low light so I got pretty tired with manual focussing and the heavy equipment. I used an Osram Studio 440 hammerhead flash in full manual mode from left above camera partly bounced and the Monostat monopod for some support during the guinea-pig sessions. The client will combine the 12 guinea-pig portraits into a collage. The photos will be used for postcards, the internet and mainly for small framed A4 posters hanging at the hutch&stable.</p><div></div>

<p>guinea pigs with the Tamron SP 70-150mm F2.8 portrait zoom, at ISO200, around F6.3-F8 and 1/80-1/100</p><div></div>

<p>-3-</p><div></div>

<p>The younger woolpig tried to eat my training shoes while the big one actually managed to bite me in the arm when I foolishly tried to arrange her ear for a better view into her eyes :-)</p><div></div>

<p>Minipigs are easier to take but they can scream incredibly loud like a siren.</p><div></div>

<p>Had to put the shy ones on the lead</p><div></div>

<p>I took over 100 photos and again the Pentax F-50mm F2.8 macro proofed to be a phantastic portrait lens, the Tamron SP90mm would have been too long for the big animals and too short for the small ones :-) </p><div></div>

<p>I wished the Tamron SP 70-150mm F2.8 zoom was a onetouch model like the very fine Pentax A-70-210mm!</p><div></div>

<p>I love your work. :)</p>

<p>Cute pictures........... :-)</p>

<p>The goat and the cat are my faves. These are all sweet and a great antidote to all the hardware talk. I just love how you titled the thread "Animal Portraits."</p>

<p>ME</p>

<p>For some reason, I'm loving the minipig. Probably the face - food hanging out, you can think that's a smile... it's cute. And no, I'm not a pet pig person (although we did see a 10lb pig we could see having as a pet....if it didn't cost $5,000 to aquire OUCH)</p>

<p>Markus - your next assignment is to get yourself into the show pig and show guinea pig circuits and start shooting their pics for money, too!!!!! You go, boy!</p>

<p>Thanks alot Deb, Subho, Michael and Maria for looking and your kind words.<br /> I'm looking forward to the party at june 20 with lots of children and all the animals for some documentary shoots :-) My next small job will be taking Pentax photos at a soapcare race...</p>