Bristol Zoo Part 1/3 - Reptiles & Insects

So I finally paid a (long overdue) visit to the Zoo a few days ago. Low light conditions and glass enclosures (meaning no flash and nasty reflections from ambient lighting) made some shots hell to take. I had 3 choices - underexpose my pictures, use a higher ISO (which also means more noise) or somehow remain totally still while the picture was being taken. Ultimately, only the first 2 options were viable so I had to play around with the settings and reach a reasonable compromise. Some shots though were just simply unshootable so I left it at that.

I wouldn't say the shots were fantastic, but it definitely was something different compared to what I've been shooting all along. Sadly, my camera died early in this trip. I do not know if it's a fault with the camera itself or the batteries, but I ran through 2 pairs of batteries shooting only less than 200 pictures/2 hours. As a result, I missed some rather interesting shots :(

Anywho, on to the pictures.

Omg whodunit!?

I wonder what he's grinning at...

I have to say, I really liked the skin 's level of detail in this picture

His facial expression reminds me of a certain, oft-used MSN smiley. Agree?

It's a leaf! It's an insect! No - it's a leaf insect!

Can be really hard to tell which is leaf and which is insect at first glance

Not so clever now eh?

Here, have a random beetle

That's it for Part 1. Can't promise when I can get the remaining 2 parts up but I'll do what I can.