Akron Zoo and a Wedding

In September, we were up in Ohio to attend a wedding.  The weather that weekend was mostly dreary and rainy.  

Coyote in a barrel

The Friday we arrived, it was cloudy and looked as though it was going to rain any minute, but we went to the Akron Zoo anyway before dinner with family.  The Akron Zoo is a small zoo that makes you feel you are up close and personal with the animals in the zoo.  However, the zoo does feel like a bit of a maze.  Overall, it is a nice zoo. 

I have upgraded to a new camera, a 70D and my husband has upgraded to a 5D.  I used my typical 18-200mm lens while my husband used a 70 – 200mm with 1.4x converter.  I kept my aperture around 8f, since it is the most versatile for the environment, while my husband varied his f-stop.  We used various shutter speeds with ISO around 200 and up depending on the exhibit.    We got a couple nice shots, plus lucked out and got to see the snow leopard try to catch a bird in its enclosure. (Akron Zoo Gallery)

Leopard relaxing

 The Saturday of the wedding, it rained 90% of the day.  In the morning, we took a walk along the CuyahogaValley National Park Towpath Trail.  It was dreary and misty which gave a walk a calm and serene feeling.   I was able to capture a few photos of herons both a great blue and green heron.  Sadly, we did not see any of the beavers or otters that call that area home.  I used my 18 -200mm lens with and ISO of 200, f8 aperture, and a 1/50 shutter speed.  

Great Blue Heron

The lovely couple

We were not the photographers for the wedding, just guests but we had our cameras with us anyway to capture a family event.  The wedding was conducted inside a country club, it was supposed to be outside but it was raining heavily in the afternoon into the evening.  The ceremony took place inside the country club in a room with dark wood paneling and large windows, but due to the rain, very little light was coming in.   We took very few pictures of the ceremony, due to our seating location. We mostly took pictures during the reception.  Overall, the area was dimly lit so we were glad we brought our flashes, which we had diffusers (stofen omi-bounce) on.  We both had our ISO at 400 or higher and used an f4 to f8 aperture depending on the light.  Shutter speed varied depending on the situation. Overall, we got some nice shots. Out of the 145 photos I took only about 45 were keepers and my husband had about a similar number of keepers from the wedding.  (Wedding Photos)

On Sunday, we drove back to DC, and it was bright and sunny that day.