A cutie of a Grey Seal

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi folks this is the smallest pup i found during my recent trip , at time of capture just 2 ,5 days old .
I missed the birth by couple of hours , visible of the birth remains on the beach , i stayed away from the pup for the first 1,5 days because mummy was somehow nervous , but got used to human presence quickly as long as not too many people were there.
Most of the times i had to watch/ shoot from an elevated position , not really ideal , only the last day i went down for a " longer" time when most of the people had left the place . Mummy was even feeding the youngster while i was away maybe 10 meters .
It was the last pup for the season i guess , as a lot of seals had already left the island , as far as the rangers told me .
Anyway it was nice to watch the little one , and very funny how quickly he seemed to grow over the time i stayed there , no wonder within 3 weeks of being fed by mum they add a weight of 50 kg , after that they have to look after themselves as mummy is going her way .

Canon EOS 1Dx
EF 200-400 IS L with TC engaged ( 520 mm )
HH

F 8 ; Iso 2500 ; 1/2000 sec

Processed with DPP 4 and PS CC ; cropped for comp from all sides slightly apart from LHS . I was struggling a bit with the overall blue / cyan ... and how much to keep as due to the low sun angle the blue/cyans has been very heavy in capture . I think i found a good compromise of elimination and keeping them in parts .

Thanks for watching and commenting to my previous posting

Cheers Andreas

[keith mitchell]

I know Andreas I am a mug for CUTE, this is my favourite, beautiful soft fur and doleful eyes.

Keith.

[Mark Needham]

Hi Andreas -- Love this one; great low angle, good light showing nice detail in the fur, and such a cute subject. Colors look good to me; I think you found a good compromise. :5 The only thing I might try would be to lighten the dark shadow / horizon reflection bisecting the eye in the lower half of the eye so the entire eye looks more "even" / consistent - hopefully this makes sense.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andreas - Best so far for me. Love the fuzzy look and detail. I think the colors look good. Nice balance between rocky fg and blue of the bg too.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Not bad Andreas you are getting the hang of this game aren't you!:w3 I love the colours and the details, I looked carefully at his snout and his fur - detail everywhere!
My only suggestion, as I looked at the image I scrolled the screen up and down and I wonder if it looks better with about 1.5cm off the base to exclude the majority of the most OOF stones WDYT?

[haseeb badar]

Hi Andreas -- Absolutely Loved this one !! Looks so cute and that FG and POV makes this image for me. Excellent details and nice PP work . I would have cropped a bit more from the left and FG for a more closer look, but this also works fine as presented.

TFS !

[Steve Kaluski]

Cuteness overload here Andreas. Great techs, nicely processed, really like the contrast of FG & blue sky sandwiching the pup, nice work overall.

TFS
Steve

[Mike Poole]

Lovely high cute factor shot Andreas, usual high standards throughout. I agree that losing a sliver off the bottom might be worth looking at.

Mike

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thank you so much folks for all your kind comments , much appreciated .

Mark i am fine with the eye , as lightning up would look kinda bit overdone , thinking about the angle of light !

Thanks for the crop suggestion from Jon, Mike and Haseeb but i am fine with the crop as presented , but thank you for your thoughts .

Cheers Andreas

[Eric Dienesch]

Helgoland ??

very nice and really cute !!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Eric .... yes Helgoland .... during the latest short nice weather period , maybe when you had taken your SEO .