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Elephant Seal greets her newborn pup
Elephant Seal greets her newborn pup
sfalice


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: National Geographic (Advanced Editing I)
Camera: Canon EOS-300D Rebel
Lens: Sigma 50-500mm f/4.0-6.3 EX APO RF HSM for Canon
Location: Central California Coast
Date: Jan 18, 2004
Aperture: 9.0
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/40
Galleries: Nature, Animals
Date Uploaded: Jan 18, 2004

 Slight Crop, Auto Levels and Curves. These seals haul out this time of year to breed and birth.

Statistics
Place: 33 out of 124
Avg (all users): 6.3411
Avg (commenters): 7.3750
Avg (participants): 6.2088
Avg (non-participants): 6.4390
Views since voting: 2536
Votes: 214
Comments: 14
Favorites: 2 (view)

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AuthorThread
 07/16/2014 07:07:42 PM
Those mother and child shots are great. Nice find.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 06/29/2011 11:43:18 AM
How incredibly sweet.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 11/13/2005 11:41:35 PM
Sorry...the seal unplugged my keyboard...have a great week!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 11/13/2005 11:40:58 PM
I think you had the right idea...the curves in this image tend to add a touch of grace and beauty to a very beautiful moment...very emotive...I do agree with ed on the cropping. I looked at it with the my crop viewer and put the mother seals nose close to the right edge of the crop and took the crop vertical...what I saw was a very dynamic shift in the lighting...As my instructor once told me..."It's a touching moment...don't be afraid to get in close". I definately think you're on the right track though and who knows...maybe National Geographic is lookin! I saw six tens in your voting and eighteen nines...wait
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/28/2005 08:24:58 PM
I can see why this is a favorite of yours. Very emotional with mother and baby. Excellent capture.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/30/2004 05:41:56 AM
Critique Club

Hi Alice

Good score - pity that the standard was so high for that challenge, else you'd have placed so much better.

For me there was something not quite satisfying about this shot - I mean that it didn't quite get me as I though it might have been able to. I know it's a tricky shot to get, but I don't think that should sway opinions of it. I think I felt that the framing of the shot was not good: I'd rather have seen a touch more location, perhaps. Also I wonder about your placement of the seals' heads in frame, and relative to the bodies: maybe showing more of the mother would enable you to contrast the relative sizes of the two and to put the real subject (that moment of contact) into a stronger place compositionally. I can imagine then the lines of the bodies forming a happier graphic element to the image. Just thoughts and imaginings, or course.

More purely technically, of course, there is nothing to criticise. And of course, its absolutely fitting for the challenge: I just feel that you slightly missed the 'art' element that NG seems to like in its nature shots.

Ed
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
01/23/2004 06:02:44 PM
Beautiful scene - great focus and texture, and the look in the eye of the mother really smacks of loving, tenderness. If this isn't on the first page (and quite high up) it'll be an injustice.

My only minimal criticism is that the little pup is quite shaded and indistinct, but that's picking nits.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2004 02:46:46 AM
Incredible closeup of a tender family moment in the animals' life. This is what NG is about. You can almost feel the smoothness of the seals skin. The texture of the sand on the seals body gives a feeling of grittyness. Excellently captured.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2004 07:21:08 PM
I think this is a good picture, but definitely fits more than any photo I've come to yet.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2004 10:22:30 PM
Very cool capture!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2004 07:42:55 AM
great shot - if a little flat. Bit more contrast to turn a 7 to a 9.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/19/2004 10:49:48 AM
Nice dof, good texture, subjects placed well in frame. A little more light on the pup's head might give some extra punch
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/19/2004 02:46:19 AM
I like this.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/19/2004 12:15:32 AM
Wow! Very cool catch!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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