I am the walrus - Goo goo g'joob

[Steve Kaluski]

With Bill's recent posting, plus, Rachel's comment 'Great to see a walrus on the ice' it reminded me to have a look back at the last time I was there, but it won't be the last, I love it :S3:.

For me, it was one of the better encounters because he was very cool & relaxed, weather was overcast so the snow & ice wasn't an issue, but sadly time was against us, we had to very quickly return back to ship ASAP, so no going for any more spins around this guy to get more frames. Just an extra 5 minutes would have be great, but if Magnus says back, we are back. Shooting from a fast moving zodiac causes it's own issues, but keep the SS (ISO 4000) & DoF high, all was good, the only issue was I needed to drop the framing down a fraction, so there was more water & pack ice at the foot of the frame, but hey...

Thanks to those who posted or viewed on the last posting.

Steve

Subject: Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus)on pack ice
Location: Svalbard
Camera: Canon 1DX MKI
Lens: 500f/4 MKII HH
Exposure: 1/2000s at f/8ISO4000
Original format: Landscape, almost FF
Processed via: LRCC Classic & PSCC2018

*The title is from - "I Am the Walrus" by the Beatles

[John Mack]

Nice view of this big guy. Like the composition and the ice.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Detail looks good as do the colours, I see negligible noise, the setting looks good to me. I particularly like the way the tusks are shown and the detail still appreciable by the base of the flippers, pretty good image Steve I'd say.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Love the image quality here, Steve. And colours too. Super techs, perfect exposure, nice DoF, stunning detail as usual:S3:

It would have been good to have a tad more at the bottom of the frame, but I guess not easy from an inflatable boat bobbing up and down:tinysmile_shy_t:

What really makes this image for me is POV - the walrus seems larger than life and very intimidating...Great title too.
Superb work - thank you for sharing, much appreciated:cheers:

Warmest regards,

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

A fine image of the Walrus, great details, soft light and colours Steve. Nicely done. Svalbard is on my wish list!

[Steve Kaluski]

Svalbard is on my wish list!

Sanjeev, it's not too cold on or around a few degrees, but it can get very cold on a zodiac, trust me, three hours was the longest and I 'kit up' and it was dam cold. It's not cheap, and you need to think about booking a year in advance if it's a good ship and I only use a very small one with about 6-8 berths, but its the crew and ultimately Magnus that makes the trip, the skipper. Wildlife can be hit & miss, no guarantees, a bit like Tigers, sometimes you are lucky...

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Steve - This works quite well. In an ideal world and setting the snow/glacier coming down from the rhs wouldn't intersect the mouth and whiskers, instead having them against the dark bg. F8 worked well here.

TFS,
Rachel