Gray Seal

[Allen Sklar]

Somewhat unusual for this area, Assateague Island Maryland.



D 300s 70-200 2.8 F10 1/500 Usual adjustments, slight lightening of the mouth area.

[Rachel Hollander]

Allen - please post your camera, lens and EXIF data as well as any significant pp.

Thanks,
Rachel

[Nancy Bell]

I very much like the overall feel to this image, with the great pose of the seal with his head up & looking at you in the foreground and the dunes fading into the bkgd. Thinking about the composition, the gentle curving outlines of the seal are very nicely repeated in all the soft curves of the sand. Lovely gentle light creating the soft dune grass colors, and I like that the seal has that interesting mottled coat. Maybe a bit more lightening to the eye on the right side so balances with the brightness of the other eye.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Allen, great to see a different animal posted in here, it's lovely to have diversity.

Firstly, I agree with Nancy about composition, however with the posture rather than going central I would have had less to the right & more space to the left, the whole composition then seems to sit better and in keeping with the pose of the seal. Initially I thought of going more pano, but on reflection, good call in retaining the blue of the sky, IMHO it really makes it. Techs look good and although the eyes are almost inky black, it's nice to see some light within them. I could well be wrong as I'm away and working on the laptop, but adding an overall basic midtone just adds/creates a little more tonal depth. Also and subject to your ethics, I would remove the stones/stick within the FG of the image, it's cleaner for me and there is nothing to distract the eyes with.

Please note that you can now post to a max of 1200px wide and 900px high. I've added a RP just to illustrate my points.

Look forward to seeing more.

TFS
Steve

[Andre Pretorius]

The RP just does it! Agree with Steve about the sky(maybe increase sat/decrease lightness).

Would like to see more detail in blacks and whites, what was your ISO, the 300S loses detail @ big F what any ISO higher than 400.

After saying this, love the image!

TFS

Andre

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hi Allen,

Thank you for this post, brilliant capture - I find this image very attractive, and this is partly due to the interesting environment included here, quite unusual. Lovely relaxed pose from your subject and I like the eye contact. The techs have been covered above, I just did something naughty and flipped the canvas a little even though I do like it as is, and just for fun

Really looking forward to more from you,

Kind regards,

[Allen Sklar]

Thanks all for the comments! Agree the habitat really makes the shot interesting. This was the first gray seal I have seen on Assateague in 20 years.....and I practically live there.