The smiling seal

Gallery: WildlifePosted February 9, 201681 views4 comments

This is my first post so apologies if I am getting anything wrong!

This is a photo of a happy seal taken handheld from a boat in Jökulsárlón, the iceberg lagoon in Iceland.

I like this photo because it almost seems as though the seal is smiling for the photo. I guess he must be lonely by himself on the ice sometimes.

Comments very welcome, especially lightroom/photoshop comments as I only auto adjusted this photo in lightroom then sharpened and cropped this photo in photoshop.

Nikon D90
18-200 f3.5 lens
120mm at f8 at 1/640

Comments

4 comments

Comment posted by Elizabeth Holbrook on February 9, 2016 at 8:08 PM

He does appear to be smiling at you. I like the fur detail and nice reflection.

Registered on May 6, 2015, 43 Posts, 221 Comments

Comment posted by Barb Pflaum on February 9, 2016 at 8:50 PM

This is a great pose. I love the smiling expression on his face.The seal appears to be very dark. I think the shadows highlight tool in photoshop might help to bring out more detail in the seal and show his smile better.

Registered on January 14, 2009, 316 Posts, 2724 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on February 9, 2016 at 10:18 PM

The floating ice surroundings really help make this a fine capture. I agree with the feel of smiles and further agree you might enhance a bit by selectively lightening the seal just a little.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Christopher Yeoh on February 10, 2016 at 3:38 PM

Thank you for all your comments.

I increased the shadows as noted below and went for a more bluish cast (didn't correct the colour) for this shot.

Further comments more than welcome.

Registered on February 2, 2016, 4 Posts, 16 Comments