A captive Cheetah photographed at Chester Zoo. Because of the strong sunshine I was able to expose for the highlights. I removed distracting highlights in the background and boosted contrast in Lightroom to create this low-key effect.

Tags:   Chester Zoo Cheetah cat low-key

© All Rights Reserved

A low-key rendering of two Greater Flamingos from the collection kept at Pensthorpe Natural Park near Fakenham, Norfolk.

Tags:   Greater Flamingo Pensthorpe Norfolk Pensthorpe Natural Park low-key image

© All Rights Reserved

Captive animal, Chester Zoo.

Tags:   Cheetah captive animal Chester Zoo low-key portrait big cat

© All Rights Reserved

A portrait of a captive elephant; one of the youngsters in the small herd at Chester Zoo. Only a few weeks ago, two other young members of the herd, a three-year-old and an 18-month-old tested positive for and sadly succumbed to endotheliotropic herpesvirus. This added a real poignancy to visiting and observing the herd. Whilst it's sometimes unhelpful to project human feelings onto other species, it certainly seemed that these intelligent animals were in mourning for their recent loss. The apparent sadness of the staff at the zoo and their stated determination to contribute to research into understanding this devastating disease was touching. Anyone interested in more information might find the following link interesting (www.chesterzoo.org/support-us/eehv)

Tags:   Elephant low-key portrait Chester Zoo elephant calf endotheliotropic herpesvirus

© All Rights Reserved

A deliberately under-exposed portrait of a female Blackbird in the garden earlier. She was in bright sunlight against a dark background, enabling this effect to be achieved.

© All Rights Reserved