Walrus making its way down to the water on the Moffin Island haul out, north of Svalbard. Taken in April last year, we were able to land on the island in survival suits. It was about 11pm, not much light as you can tell from the settings, so no real opportunity for a smaller aperture or faster shutter speed with this sensor.
Canon 7DII and 400/f2.8II handheld. Processed in Lightroom, then Neat Image NR in Photoshop.
f3.2, 1/320, ISO2000
Greg
Hi Greg,
I quiet like the image with those large tusks/teeth showing nicely with a good head angle and eye contact. Wish for a bit more room below & reduce a bit of blues?. The max I push the 7D II is to 3200 but only occasionally.TFS.
Great portrait Greg. I agree with the other critiques on colour and composition. Still a nice shot though with good pose form the walrus and nice snow and sky background (or is that a snow bank in shadow?). Detail looks good and it's a frame I'd be pretty happy with.
Hi Greg -- What a massive looking Walrus ! I agree with the above regarding the blues and more space at the foot. I am not sure with the DOF as the snout looks sharper than the eyes which ofcourse must have been difficult to stop down considering the ss and restriction on ISO. I feel it needs a round of sharpening a bit soft for my liking and also looks a little on the darker side.
Hi Greg - Nice to see a walrus. It must have been really cold in Svalbard in April. If you expose to the right, you can go a little higher with the 7D2 as far as ISO. I agree on needing more room below. As to the color, I would reduce both the blues and cyans on the walrus if it were mine and would probably tame them slightly in the sky too. I would also open up the midtones on the walrus to bring out some more detail.
Don't forget to comment on other wildlife images each time you post one of your own. It's the best way to learn and to become part of the community.
TFS,
Rachel
P.S. I forgot to mention that you don't have an embedded color profile on the image so depending on the browser one uses there may be a shift in color. For web viewing you want to convert to sRGB. Shout if you need instructions. There are also some threads posted in the Digital Workflow forum on color profiles.
Last edited by Rachel Hollander; 11-18-2017 at 04:15 PM.
Reason: added P.S.
Thanks to all the constructive comments, I have a repost which may be a bit better. The primary concern was the color in the walrus. I don't see this drastically myself, but have made some adjustments. Rachel I will investigate the color profile, but have not done so yet, that may contribute. The space below was a bigger problem as that was the bottom of my frame. Stretching didn't work with the thin space, so I took some snow from an adjacent frame. I could do a better job, but certainly an improvement. Some replies on individual comments: Glenn, yes it is snow covering the rocky island, I was down close to the water and shooting upwards a little; Rachel, I like the sky, I think this is a very unusual viewpoint for seeing a walrus, and yes it was cold, probably -20C.
Thanks again all,
Greg
Hi Greg, Walrus are good fun and fully of character so I'm pleased you saw them.
I assume you were shooting from a zodiac here, therefore you needed a faster SS and more DoF, however I feel you were at the max of the 7D. If I'm shooting this then I'm normally around 1/2000 and f/8 because of the close proximity, but then I'm shoot with the 1DX MKII which offers greater flexibility on the higher ISO. Agree on many of the above comments, however having a fixed lens and a zoom is always handy, as the fixed is great for close-ups and zooms for more 'wider aspect'. The image appears to have been 'lifted' lightened, did you under expose? I still think the RP is carrying too much blue in the subject and the body can go richer in both terms of colour & tonal depth of the subject.
I'm surprised it was that cold, as it's always hovered around 0-+2 in August/September.
Hi Steve, thanks for viewing my post, but I can't resolve all your comments with the image and the situation. I agree that if I was in a zodiac in summer with the 1DXII I have now your generic settings would be a good starting point. But this was on land on Moffin Island, I had a 7DII in my hand and it was early April about 11pm... You can check with a web search, but it is that cold in early April, and the sun was down behind clouds in the west - this was pointing the other direction hence the clear sky.
This was the first year a winter trip ran from Svalbard, although there is less wildlife activity the attraction of the winter trip is the very different light. Just have to be prepared for the cold.
Greg
walrus
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