Nocturnal House Photo Choices

[gentle lemur]

Modern digital cameras can perform much better in low light situations than their predecessors. This makes it possible to get better photos of animals in Nocturnal Houses. I find that auto white balance works pretty well with my Nikon, if the lighting is dim but covers a fair section of the spectrum. However I find photos taken in exhibits illuminated with red light are less satisfactory.
The first photo in my illustration shows a pygmy slow loris feeding on a log which a keeper had just primed with a liquid sap or gum mixture. It has been been adjusted for basic exposure and cropped, but the colour is unchanged. The second shows a colour corrected version, converted using Capture NX-D, selecting a point on the background as neutral grey (this is not an exact science, the colours are probably not entirely accurate) which turned some liquid drops and highlight in the eye bright purple - I removed these highlights with Photoshop. The third one shows a black and white conversion of the original red image, also created with Photoshop.
I know which one I like best - but I would like to learn the opinions of other ZooChatters. Please enlarge the image and then respond below.

Nocturnal House Photo Choices

• gentle lemur
• 5 Oct 2020
• 2

Nocturnal Room, Shaldon, 28th September 2020

 

[RetiredToTheZoo]

I like the B & W version best. I think both of the color versions wash out the contrast. The B & W version enhances the contrast and brings out more detail. I wonder if the red light is having the same effect on the B & W version as a red filter did on the B & W film used by landscape photographers. Ansel Adams used one a lot to increase contrast.

 

[TinoPup]

I much prefer the middle one.

 

[TeaLovingDave]

I reckon I prefer the BW version - in point of fact, although I only have a pretty basic point-and-shoot bridge camera, whenever I take photographs in red-lit nocturnal houses I *always* change the settings to take monochrome photographs, as I find these display more detail and contrast in red-light conditions than do colour photographs.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I prefer the middle one though the last BW one is also very good and kind of reminds me of one of those picture taken in zoos in the 1950's that end up in enclyclopedias or natural history books.

 

[Coelacanth18]

@gentle lemur can you explain how exactly the Capture NX-D software works in terms of choosing how to color the image? I like the photo well enough, but I'd be curious about how accurate the color correction is before deciding that I would choose that option.

Without knowing that as it stands now, I also lean slightly towards the BW photo as I think it might be easier to make out fine details than with the red.

 

[gentle lemur]

@gentle lemur can you explain how exactly the Capture NX-D software works in terms of choosing how to color the image? I like the photo well enough, but I'd be curious about how accurate the color correction is before deciding that I would choose that option.

Capture NX-D is Nikon's own software which basically does a similar job to Lightroom, converting camera raw files (.NEF) to .tif or .jpg files and making various adjustments. I originally chose it because it is set up to match the sensors in my Nikon cameras, whereas Lightroom has to handle the output from the sensors in all types of cameras. In practice, I don't suppose this makes any significant difference, but I am used to Capture NX-D now and I don't see any need to change. This software has added the advantage that it is free for registered Nikon users, bundled with the camera, Nikon Transfer 2 and View NX-i (for uploading and viewing NEF files). Free updates are available from time to time.
The WB (white balance) tool is easy to use, you simply click on the eyedropper icon and then click on a point on your image which you think ought to be a neutral grey (whether light, mid or dark in tone) - and observe the results instantly. It is more or less idiot-proof, because if you don't like the effect, you can immediately undo and select a different point. In a tricky image I may try several times before I get a result that satisfies me, because in the end it's a subjective business (unless your subject is holding a Kodak 18% grey card), so it is as accurate as your eyes and memory want it to be. There is also a slider for fine adjustments, which I never use.

 

[Crowthorne]

I quite like the first one, probably because that's how things look in nocturnal houses, and those are my favourite places in zoos. There's no other place I go where animals are lit in red, so it brings back the 'at the zoo nocturnal house' feeling!