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  #138 Creatures, Great and Small 		Entry 4 of 25
   
 
Elephant Seals       ©2014 Edward
Panasonic DMC-FZ200       4th place, 174 points
1/200s, f2.8, ISO 125, ?, Manual, Spot, no flash
 
Post-Processing: Reduced brightness, increased vibrancy, cropped, sharpened.       Extra Info: This shot was taken at Ano Nuevo reserve - on the coast 50 miles south of San Francisco. These awesome mammals are rarely seen on land, and only at certain times of the year, in special breeding grounds in western North America. The males are know for their large proboscis (noses) and the powerful and bloody battles the alpha males engage in to win control of a breeding harem of females.
 
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Jade O.
Feb 18, 2014		     Top 4! Nothing to yawn about with this one!
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Mepo
Feb 17, 2014		     Feel like I'm on the beach. Love the shot and the presentation.
Edward
Feb 17, 2014		     The decision to attempt to portray the environmental colors as close to natural as possible was a choice I consciously made. The increase in vibrancy was to compensate for the slightly over-bright effect of the overcast sky on natural coloration. I, too, find it interesting that the animals blend in so well into the brown sand (especially since they spend 90% of their existence in deep ocean water), but certainly not unfortunate.
Edited on Feb 17, 2014
ysal
Feb 17, 2014		     Now that is a face only a female seal can love.... Nice shot, unfortunately the animals blend in a little too well into the brown sand.
Old Finn
Feb 17, 2014		     Interesting photo. I would have adjusted the hue more to the cold side, but in my favorites anyway.
Edward
Feb 17, 2014		     mrsawyer: seeing as a f2.8 aperture was necessary, DOF dictates that not everything was going to be in perfect focus. I wanted the male in particular to be in sharp focus. Yes, those "mounds" are the bodies of other seals. The beaches, especially near the water, are literally covered with seal bodies - often one on top of the other. In fact, many newborn seal pups are crushed to death accidentally by 4000-5000 pound males who roll over them on their way either to fight in a challenge, or while heading toward the ocean. They move by undulating their bodies, like worms. They can move very fast when they want to, which is one of the reasons why no one is allowed closer than 25 feet.
Edited on Feb 17, 2014
mrsawyer
Feb 16, 2014		     Good focus on the big male. Would have liked to have seen the seal with the open mouth in focus, too. I like the background, especially the bird! Is the mound in the left foreground a seal as well? In my favs.
Lo
Feb 16, 2014		     Love the warmth of the colours and the angle that you have chosen. It really brings home the size of these creatures.
Edward
Feb 16, 2014		     Jade/Cookiejar: This shot was taken at 108mm on my Panny FZ200, which is the FF equivalent of 600mm (don't know why this EXIF info. didn't show when I loaded the photo). Therefore, I was nowhere close enough to be in danger. Plus, there are park rangers supervising the visitors - so no one is allowed closer than 25 feet from the animals. The odor was surprisingly not that bad - at least it wasn't that day. However, I was there after a significant rain, which probably cleared the air a bit; and perhaps I was upwind from any offensive smells.
cookiejar
Feb 16, 2014		     I take my hat off to you for risking your personal safety and your olfactory sense for this interesting photograph.
Jade O.
Feb 15, 2014		     Love to know what focal length lens this was shot at (in mm). It seems like you have a nice eye. The foreground intrusion is a major distraction and the colour looks very real (which is to say quite flat). Not sure if I'd prefer the vivid colour surreal Fujifilm look here but it would be interesting to see two colour sample side by side (real vs enhanced).
dogma02
Feb 14, 2014		     How lucky you were to see them! Great shot of some pretty unusual beasties.
KJW
Feb 14, 2014		     Love this shot. Looks like the female is barking/yelling at the male & he just has that look on him thinking "here she goes again." LOL, no offense to the female gender.
LaRee
Feb 13, 2014		     Excellent capture! Really a wonderful shot indeed. Perfect timing. It is hard to look at this image and not imagine what each one is thinking. Really great!
forkcandles
Feb 13, 2014		     the picture would be more powerful with a crop to include the large male and the smaller female.
the title could have themed on her open mouth... yeah yeah yeah okay dear
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By Edward


United States
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