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California Harbor Seals
California Harbor Seals
Ann


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Wildlife III (Advanced Editing V)
Camera: Nikon D70
Lens: Nikon AF Zoom-Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D ED
Location: San Diego
Date: Jan 20, 2007
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/750
Galleries: Nature, Animals
Date Uploaded: Jan 21, 2007

 Post challenge: Wow, a 6.5 and still only 34th! Some absolutely stunning images in this challenge, and I feel good to be anywhere in the top 50. Thanks for all the votes and comments, everyone!

Oh, and since one person asked about the light, this was taken in late afternoon. The late afternoon winter light has been nice lately.

Taken at the Children's Pool, La Jolla, California. Winter is pupping time for the harbor seals. The seals come up onto the beach and hang out for a couple of months to have pups. The Children's Pool in La Jolla is a small chunk of beach where a surf break was built in 1931 to provide a swimming area for kids. It also provides an excellent place for the seals to nest, and since the early 1990's, the seals have taken over the beach, especially during the winter pupping season. Nobody knows why they suddenly started using the Childrens Pool. Because of the ummm...seal poop, the pool has been closed to humans for a number of years. The seals are protected by federal law, but a small, committed group of people have taken it upon themselves to chase the seals off the beach at regular intervals, in order to reclaim the beach for people. Another small, equally committed group of people has taken it upon themselves to protect the seals by chasing the people off the beach. This has led to numerous fights, arrests, lawsuits, and general mayhem.

When I was there, there were about 100 seals on the beach, and another 200 people watching the seals from safe (to the seals) places.

Taken with a 80-200mm lens at 200mm with a 1.4x teleconverter from about 50 yards. Other than the usual raw conversion, crop, resizing, and sharpening, I darkened the sand with a multiply layer at 50%, and used curves to bring the color back up in the sRGB version.

Statistics
Place: 34 out of 218
Avg (all users): 6.5136
Avg (commenters): 7.7391
Avg (participants): 6.4906
Avg (non-participants): 6.5298
Views since voting: 1572
Views during voting: 365
Votes: 257
Comments: 24
Favorites: 1 (view)

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AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
01/28/2007 06:46:24 PM
awwwwwwww, love them eyes!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2007 02:49:17 PM
Colour and light really make this shot special!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/28/2007 01:22:33 PM
Very cute, and nice warm cast. You did a good job with composition and DOF. 8.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/27/2007 08:27:15 AM
Incredibly cute! I like the color in this - warm and rich.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/27/2007 03:04:33 AM
Great composition and isolation of subject. Very nice shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/24/2007 10:36:37 PM
great DOF and detail. love the expression and the well captured moment
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/24/2007 06:19:04 AM
What a ridiculously adorable face :-) Very nice timing on this one.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/24/2007 03:40:18 AM
Beautiful Image!!! Love the look back GQ type pose.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2007 01:46:07 PM
Great lighting and your focus is right on. Nice DOF too.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2007 10:21:03 AM
Gorgeous pose and expression, wonderful background bokeh.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2007 08:28:05 AM
very cute! like the fokus and the color. - 8 -
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2007 08:11:46 AM
What a beautiful photo!! I would love to have access to wildlife like this! I just LOVE this!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/23/2007 01:56:51 AM
Excellent shot. Nice control of the exposure. Looks like this might have been a difficult shot to not blow out the highlights with the direct sun. I like the warm golden tones this shot has. Probably taken in the early morning? Very cute and I like how it is looking back over it's shoulder at you. Good luck with the challenge!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2007 10:24:26 PM
i think a tighter crop would work better here.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2007 10:24:07 AM
cute. nice light too
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2007 09:21:02 AM
What a cute subject. Nicely edited.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2007 06:55:31 AM
what a silly seal expression...it cracks me up!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2007 06:43:51 AM
What a cutie!! Excellent capture and the lighting couldn't be more perfect. Good job!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2007 06:31:22 AM
Very cute! And, shows the animal's environment. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2007 04:10:56 AM
Beautiful lighting. Nice shot!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2007 02:38:49 AM
This is a great shot, feeling, colors are right on, and subject is wonderful. Van
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/22/2007 02:01:35 AM
Very nice capture. I think what makes this image for me is not the guy in focus up front but the one in the background. 7 for now
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2007 10:30:28 PM
very nice! 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 01/21/2007 10:22:25 PM
Aaaaaaw.... i like this alot lol faved..
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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