New Zealand Fur Seal

[Gerald Kelberg]

This image confirms the well known scientific fact that New Zealand Fur Seals are built upside down to compensate for the antipodean reversal effect.

In making this image I thought that Andreas would very much enjoy such an opportunity. It was on a reef at Kaikoura on the East coast of the South Island, at the end of 2018.

I was using the Canon EOS 1DX and the EF100-400 II. Shutter speed 1/800 sec at f/8.0, ISO 1600, hand held.

Processed in LrC and PS.

Comments and suggestions warmly welcomed.

Gerald

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Gerald ... you are absolutely correct , it would have been great pleasure to shoot the Seals there !!! I do love Seals of every kind .... the Australian Sea Lions are the most prettiest once for me . I had once the chance on Kangaroo Island to photograph them for some hours ... but that was way way back in the early 90´s with very crappy gear and no photographic knowledge !!!

Lovely relaxed pose of this guy , but he kept an eye on you ....
Love the bright whiskers and the facial color variants .... and the sandy nose tip is priceless sweet .
Nice simple and clean frame with a lovely ocean backdrop . Nice overall colors and tones ... I might try to get more light and tonal variation into the face area without overdoing it .

I enjoyed viewing this frame

TFS Andreas

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gerald, a very nice capture and framed perfectly. Techs look good and it shows the old kit still can deliver!

The low POV is spot on and the look to camera engages the viewer perfectly.

I can't help wonder if the monitors need a bit more correction as images look a bit dark? Overall based on the OP lifting it more does help, but you have to be carful of noise in the shadows. Tweaking the WB just pulls things together, but overall a cool capture.

TFS
Steve

[Gabriela Plesea]

So glad you are back, Gerald, we missed you.

Love the pose here, and 'upside down whiskers' . Nice framing, good choice of DoF, techs look good overall. Superb POV.
Agree with Steve above, image a tad dark, easy fix for you. Just a slight tweak of the WB will make it perfect

A pleasure to view, thank you Gerald!

Kind regards,

[Jonathan Ashton]

A really interesting image, I haven't seen one in the wild but the tones, colours and details look good.

[Gerald Kelberg]

Just for a comparison, here is a reworking of the original post.

Thanks for all the helpful comments and suggestions.

Gerald

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Gerald, I think on reflection the OP looks better, the RP appears to 'lifted' in the darks/shadows. If I had to say, the OP carried a little more Yellow and I think in basic terms, Red is needed in simplistic terms. Saying that, I quite liked the 'pushed' sea backdrop, perhaps less authentic, but occasionally the artistic hand comes into play, but you need to remove the dark streak in the RP.