Yeah. Sorry about that. Bad puns abound when you have to post some adorable otter photos. I’ve got about a dozen more in the sequence, but here are three.
Yesterday I spent 5 hours on the Somo river with a couple of really special moments. Aside from drifting without paddling for about an hour of that time, I ran into some otters. By just going with the current and only paddling lightly or not at all, animals lose their sense of danger and because otters are curious anyway, I got to spend about 10 minutes with this one. There were two or three around, but only this one was brave enough to stick close. Granted, the river is well populated by humans and so they’re accustomed to us more than other populations.
I learned quite a bit about them in this short time - they like dense undergrowth on the shorelines and perching places like this log. I’ve often had them huff and blow and growl at me, but I’ve never noticed that they will slap the water with their chins and necks when startled. When they’re at ease, they go up and down like periscopes mostly and without a sound. The chin alarm slap was new to me. They are also very curious and playful when relaxed like this one was. The next time I’m on the Somo, I’m going to try to find them again by staking out this area or a similar situation where there is a tangle of shoreline branches and part-submerged logs. I may even forgive them when they poop on my lawn.
Specific Feedback Requested
So…processing, thoughts & ideas welcome. The light is what it is, but I think I did a good job with shadow and highlight recovery without it seeming too forced.
Technical Details
Handheld in the kayak with exposure and settings mostly like this -
Lr for a bit of white balance adjustment (too cool & magenta) - used a typical S-curve for global adjustment and some subject masking to bring up shadows on the otter. Inverted mask to lower exposure and whites in the background. Topaz Denoise AI set to Low Light with auto calculation for each shot. A bit of a crop and rotation to straighten.
A great series of your time with the otter, Kris. I was amazed in the second photo with the splash that you also had a dragonfly in flight! So glad you were able to spend time in a boat drifting along and taking pictures. That sounds fun in and of itself. Thank you for sharing.
Great observation and beautiful series !
If you have some more canvas below, especially in 2nd & 3rd frame, that would help. I would prefer to have full reflection.
It could be my monitor, but I’m seeing some blue / magenta cast in the Otter, which is more evident in 3rd frame.
Thanks @JRajput, @David_Bostock & @Shirley_Freeman - it was a really special few minutes there. I’d seen this same group of otters up river a bit, but they disappeared before I could even see them properly (mostly they were blowing and huffing like they do). Then I saw them again down river and because this one was so brave, I got a little modeling session.
I put a variation of the 3rd shot up there for you to compare - it has more reflection and reduced magenta, but I’m not sure it looks right either. The blue is actually the sky reflecting on the water on the otter’s fur. It’ s so dense it often sheets before it runs off and so the blue. But the magenta is a wb error so let me know if it looks better.
Kris, my old eyes aren’t seeing any difference. I’m wondering if it is my eyes or if you uploaded the wrong image? Just a thought. I’ve gone back and forth several times and can’t see any difference.
A fun series and some special wildlife moments. Always tough shooting when you have so many elements in play, but I think you handled it well for the most part. The water spray adds an element of action to the scene. Very enjoyable.
I think it looks better with full reflection but not able to distinguish the color between the two.
I realized that it is tough image to handle the color.
I think we have differently calibrated monitors, Jagdeep. To me yours looks very cast the other way - to cyan. But I appreciate the try. So hard to get it to look right for everyone.
There is a bit of a difference in crop, Shirley. Just on the last one where it’s looking right at me. Not much change in color cast though.
And let me see if this will post, a video I took of them in 2019 where you can hear the snorty little snuffing thing they do. It’s so funny. Apologies for the bad video. I’ve gotten somewhat better since.
So fantastic to get to see and shoot these guys! Seems comical how they pop up out of the water. I could anthropomorphize the perch.
To me, @JRajput’s color tweak looks like it reduced magenta a bit, going to more green, which I like. I also felt things were leaning toward magenta just a bit, but there’s no good reference in shots like this.
Yeah, the periscope routine is super funny. They do it all the time. Huffing and blowing and probably laughing. It seems that way sometimes. Here’s a bonus otter image. I have so many from this session it’s hard to choose. I was almost crashed into the side at this point and so the intruding branches.
Just watching otters must be unforgettable for many people - you got to really travel with them too. I love the bonus shot where we can see full-length otter. And it fits in beautifully with the bg because of your low angle. I know what you mean about bad puns. I have a photo of an otter in the car - I call it my Otter Pilot, to loud groans from the passengers.
Thanks @Mike_Friel - it is a treat to see them no matter what - once while having coffee my husband noticed one pop up down on the river - it was just at ice out and there were holes and so we watched as one came up, did a reccie, went back in and three more appeared on the ice. The whole family had some fish and a quick tussle, then back in the water. In about 2 minutes some crows came and cleaned up the fish guts and stuff. All with coffee and I didn’t have to leave the house!
Thanks for the pun forgiveness too. Sometimes I just can’t resist. Hitting the water today, but I’m with two others so it will be more of a scouting mission than for photography.
Ha! Too funny. I wish. But it should be fun. A couple of undeveloped lakes connected by a sort of strip that runs through the woods. If no one is camping there it will be quiet and I can at least see if one or the other of the lakes will be good for wildlife. Or at least solitude. There is another undeveloped lake across the road if the connector between the first two isn’t passable. They are all quite small - about 100 acres or possibly less.
A very nice land otter series, Kristen! I particularly like the last version with more reflection and better detail on the otter. I also like Jagdeep’s adjustment where it appears he backed off the cyan component a bit to warm it up and so that the blue reflection on it’s fur doesn’t stand out so much. I know how it feels to have an opportunity like this where you get so many shots that you don’t know which ones to present! As a side note, I happened to notice that the log it is on almost looks like an animal itself with little short legs and a face at one end
Thanks @Gary_Minish - the universe gave me a break that day, with the turtle and the otter. I like that final image, too, the closed eyes and the shape of the mouth just looks like a peaceful smile to me. I hadn’t noticed that about the log, but now you mention it…
