Love me tender……...

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi folks another seal image just taken a couple of days ago, one out of firing like Gabriela did in her 2012 Kalahari trip .

These two where running all over the place, causing a hassle in the group of seals . Finally they decided to come more to an open area , to help me to get a clear shot. Sadly there is the one in BKG , not much i could do , but think it is OOF enough.
I wished for having the black one fully in the frame , but they move fast and sometimes not easy to focus on the head and keeping two seals in full body length.

Canon EOS 1Dx
EF 200-400 at 513 mm .

Tripod

F 10 ; Iso 3200 ; 1/1600 sec
Cropped for comp

Processed as usual with PhotoNinja and PS CC ; not sure if the colors are alright ; used a LAB action to get more color separation (which i use from time to time)

Thanks for watching and leaving a comment to my previous post.

Cheers Andreas

[Nancy Bell]

Andreas, you have made a good self-critique already. The impact of this image is the wonderful color difference between the 2 seals, as well as their appearance of holding each other. You have very nice details in the fur and for some reason I think whiskers add personality and appeal. I do agree that the lack of the entire black seal is unfortunate.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andreas - A tender moment and I too agree with your self-critique about having the entire darker seal in the frame. Sharpness and pov work well. You can still bring out more detail in the darkest blacks. I'm seeing a halo at the edge of the darker seal.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andreas, nice interaction. I think the OOF seal RHS does add context to the scene, removal makes the scene very sterile, although I might blend the blob out LHS. Nice tone, colour & detail, but agree, having the rear flipper LHS would have been better, why not flip the ext back? Seems you are enjoying the 1DX now.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks folks for thoughts and comments appreciate them a lot.
Rachel i will keep the blacks as they are,because i just watched carefully this time how they look in "real" life, meaning their tonality in various light conditions . If the sun is out they look really pitch black with almost no detail visible ,depending on the sun angle. I hope you understand ,but also understand your point.

Steve yep i do enjoy my latest cam and lens combo a lot, lightning fast and a **** of great IQ , even if conditions are not ideal………..!!?? I could remove the blob you suggest , and i was thinking that YOU if you see it , will make that suggestion .
Sadly this is the only frame i have with these two arm in arm , in exactly this great position .I have others with the flippers in, but not as good tender moment as this……… sadly .I should have shot wider , but on helgoland there is many times junk in the BKG .
I tried to remove the ext in my genius Raw converter , i can recover a lot in there, but sadly not the ext . Should send the developer a suggestion to make it possible in the next major release ……..

BTW would like to see a comment by you on my Harbour seal image , would be great to hear your thoughts.

Thanks a bunch, Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Andreas, will take a look later.

I should have shot wider , but on helgoland there is many times junk in the BKG .

Very frustrating, might be worth sometimes including this in the intro, as it helps when viewing the image.

Cheers
Steve

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Andreas, a tender moment indeed. The tight frame already mentioned, i wonder if you would have a sliver on top. I may consider adding canvas. Agreed on the removal of the blob on the LHS. Loi

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Andreas,

I somehow used your image as a "screen saver" on Saturday morning, was at work and tried to write a comment, just could not concentrate to finish one sentence... But I liked this so much, the embrace, the "love bite", the textures and colours, really do not mind the black seal only partially present in the frame because the focus is on the close interaction of the two subjects, the OOF seal does not bother me either, just like Steve I too feel it adds context to the scene. I really like the way you processed this - carefully maintaining natural colours and sharpening only where necessary - there is a lot I learn from just watching your images, thank you for this lovely post, hope there's more?

Kind regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Thanks Loi and Gabriela i appreciate your thoughts and comments on this one.
Gabriela i hope i will find this image in Oct again on your screen .

Cheers Andreas

[Andre Pretorius]

Andreas,

After reading all the comments and wonder what an ext is, I have one more question-

Which one is the male?

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Andre just for info the male is the black one , always with the Grey Seals .
The "EXT" is the built in Extender on my latest lens investment - the pretty D-A-M-N good wonder lens the 200 - 400 .Steve meant i just should have flipped it back to zero to get the flipper in the frame .
Cheers Andreas

BTW where is the Dagga boy ? I am waiting

[Morkel Erasmus]

Just love the poses here, Andreas! Great texture and detail too.
All proper critique has been covered already