Photo by Alexandra Ballough

Motherly Love

“Motherly Love” was shot at Beardsley Zoo, Bridgeport, CT on September 14, 2023. I had read in the Zoo newsletter, that a baby Spider Monkey had been born. Excited about the news, I went to the zoo to capture some photos of the new arrival. I took multiple shots. It wasn’t easy. The Mother kept shielding the baby. Finally, I got the photo that I posted, but it was less than perfect. The mother and babe were sitting on a tilted metal bar, leaning against a metal pole, with a brick wall behind them. There was also harsh lighting on the mother’s head and right hand. Worst of all, it was shot through cloudy plexiglass, but I loved the photo and I was determined to make it work.

Editing notesI used On1 Raw 2023 to edit my photo. First, I leveled and cropped the photo. Then I used DEVELOP to give more contrast, which helps to remove the plexiglass cloudiness. I ,also, enhanced the brightness, color vibrance. From there I used LOCAL to mask and tackle the bright harsh lighting spots on the mother’s hand and arm. I was able to make the spots all but disappear by lowering the exposure, and enhancing the color to blend. Next , with EFFCTS, I chose Dynamic Contrast to bring out the animal's fur. It, also, had a positive effect on the baby’s face. Final touches were to change the background to black by adding another layer and masking out the background. Then add Effect thin white border.

ILCE-6500
ƒ/6.3
200mm
ISO 2500
1/1250 sec

Motherly Love

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