Elephant seal bulls

[Andreas Liedmann]

Image taken of this two guys , at Californian coast somewhere .
Quite difficult on a beach full of seals , to find some interesting subjects.

Canon EOS 1D MK IIN
EF 500 IS L
Tripod

F 5,6 / 1/250sec / ISO 400 ; could have been better .

Processed in RPP + PS ; canvas extension on top; cropped to 75% of FF

Hope you like it

C&C as always welcome

Cheers Andreas

[Steve Canuel]

Nice, warm California feel to this image. Like the eye contact as well.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I rather like the golden light. I can imagine that in a scene like this it would be difficult to isolate some action, for me it works well. I am not sure if the image might have looked a tad better if the distant hills were a little lower in the frame or not, but I do not find them distracting in any event.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andreas - good choice on the vertical comp. Nice action and good detail in that golden light. I would crop some from the bottom, about half of the oof sea lions. There seems to be a halo on the left side of the left sea lion.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andreas, like the choice of crop, but I'm with Rachel on cropping some from the foot of the image, perhaps even 2/3 of the OOF rears?

I can also see the halo Rachel also flagged up, but it might be partly highlight? The colours give a nice warm to the overall image and as Steve said, like the eye contact. Did you lighten the seals at all, looks more 'grain' coming through, even for the MKIIn? I wonder if it could take some selective Mid tone on the face/bodies to add a little more form?

Just my take.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks to Steve ; Steve; Rachel and Jonathan for watching and commenting.

I understand the suggestions about the crop.The problem with this is , if i crop it your way , i will either loose side ratio (what i do not like ) or i will go too tight IMO.
So i leave it, but thanks for suggestions .

The halo is actually a highlight , just checked back the raw, so no need of correcting.
I am not sure , maybe you are right Steve about the grainy looking parts on the seal, will try to remove it.

Thanks for your feedback, as always appreciate your opinions.
Andreas

[Marina Scarr]

While the light and behavior are terrific, I find the OOF FG overpowering. I think if it were darker it wouldn't be as distracting.