Wasn't planning on entering this challenge. I was out shooting for a specific Free Study shot, when the fog rolled in... so I decided to pack it in & head home. I decided to stop at a local Marina Pier that I hadn't been to before. I was shooting some Blue Heron on a breakwater, when this guy surfaced & glided about 15 ft in front of me. He broke the surface for about 10 seconds, giving me enough time to frame the shot how I wanted (his wake looked really cool). As soon as he noticed me, he submerged and was gone.
Just goes to show you that chimping does have it's benefits. Had I not been chimping the exposure on my Blue Heron shots, I would've never seen him. :O)
I love the water surface/tension in this.
Minimal pp:
crop
cloned out a few bubbles and some tiny debries in the water
curves for contrast
small dodge on the seal's face
hue/sat
resize
usm (on seal only)
ni on water
add border
sfw
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Post Challenge:
Thanks for all of the comments! Was very surprised that this faired so well in a very strong field.
And thanks to CD for this:
Statistics
Place: 11 out of 159 Avg (all users): 6.7291 Avg (commenters): 7.9524 Avg (participants): 6.7534 Avg (non-participants): 6.7154 Views since voting: 2205 Views during voting: 427 Votes: 203 Comments: 30 Favorites: 4 (view)
Well you fell just outside of the top 10 but it's still a good achievement. There was some very good competition in this challenge and lots of close decisions to make. I gave this shot a full 10 during voting.
That perfectly smooth water looks awesome. Even though only a fraction of his face is showing, it's still a great shot because of the clear grey water and those big brown eyes.
I found this to be a compelling image. Excellent wildlife in its ocean environment. I also appreciate the composition and use of negative space to throw attention on the subject. (Could have been just a little more space on the right margin to allow more room to move.) My hope for you is that this image receives the votes it deserves. It's first rate! (9)
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