Harbor Seal

[Steve Kaluski]

Certainly a 'marmite' shot, but with minimal light and certainly very little colour, it pushed the PP in one direction with an almost hi key look. The reflection below the bow wave is really spooky and odd, but that's the reflection. I also kept minimal content within the bow wave, not wishing to clash with the face, but with hindsight more DoF required, may be f/11, however at ISO5000 I'm not sure where I might have ended up?

As Andreas knows, limited time to both spot and shot, so you take what you can get from a moving zodiac.

Thanks to those who viewed or posted a comment on the previous thread.

Steve

Subject: Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) face only, in water
Location: Svalbard
Camera: Canon 1DX
Lens: 500f/4 MKII with 1.4 HH
Exposure: 1/2500s at f/5.6 ISO5000
Original format: Landscape, slight crop on sides, more top & bottom for crop format
Processed via: LRCC (2015) & PSCC 2015

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Steve almost a very graphic look & feel to this frame , absolute a winner :5, you did well with the HK effect , love it . And the six eyed Harbor Seal :w3.
Great techs as usual , apart from one recent posting :bg3:.Amazing clarity and sharp where it counts , more DOF yes would have been better ....... but even F 11 would not have helped ..... just tried on Helgoland recently . Does not work with a frontal view even with little pups and focus bang between the eyes , not even thinking about an adult with the very long snout that they have .

So take what you can get , and be happy !!!

Stunning low POV from a Zodiac , all in all a great frame .

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheers, I think one needs to be further away, or just remove the extender, but as you have no idea where or when they will surface, scanning 360 degrees and ready to shoot is interesting. With minimal water colour HK was the only way to go. Wanted to hold fire on PB's and offer an alternative POV to your ones, but who knows what's in your bag...

Cheers

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - I kind of like the multiple reflections, makes it a bit more unusual. The high key effect works as does the low pov. Agree that more dof would have taken it up a notch but it would be extremely difficult under the circumstances. Definitely need to keep that ss high from the zodiac.

TFS,
Rachel

[haseeb badar]

Hi Steve -- I really liked this image with minimalistic look . That reflection rather reflections makes this image for me . And i must appreciate the way you produce such lovely images from a moving zodiac . TFs !

[keith mitchell]

Excellent work Steve, that bow wave and reflection makes it for me.

Keith.

[Joseph Przybyla]

An image I find very pleasing, the minimalist I am. The only thing I may have wished for was more depth of field so the nose and wake would be in sharp focus. Thank you for sharing, Steve.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Steve,

indeed the reflection looks spooky! Cool image, I like it very much and as usual all spot on. The colors and HK looks great and very pleasing in this image :w3


Have a great evening

Ciao Anette

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks guys and ladies too. :S3:


The only thing I may have wished for was more depth of field so the nose and wake would be in sharp focus.

Joe I mentioned this in the intro, but Andreas also had a thought too.

[Mark Needham]

Very creative with the cool reflection here showing the 6 eyes :eek3: Nice minimalist approach. Yes, more DOF would be nice, but you were already at 5000 ISO and shooting from a moving zodiac, so needed the SS up. I think you did the best you could given the circumstances. Fantastic processing, although I might be tempted to get rid of the darker grey wave "line" in the top left and go with an almost solid tone in the BG - it tends to draw my eye away from the subject and reflection.

Great, creative image, Steve! :5