The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
A Weddell seal lounging among shards and blocks of sea ice, unfazed by this half frozen half liquid environment during the waning days of the Antarctic summer. This image was captured from the shoreline of Ross Island, McMurdo Sound, in early February this year.
Feedback Requested
This was originally 2:3 aspect ratio image but I did not feel it worked well in trying to capture just how perfectly adapted the Weddell seal is to the extreme environment Antarctica. I felt the eyes and ice chunks on its head told a more compelling story vs the original frame. I am still a bit bothered by the rest of the body/neck suddenly end at the left edge of the image with this crop. But does it still work? Since this environment lacks vibrant colors mostly tones of white, grey, and dark, processing was simplified.
Technical Details
I would make frequent trips to “Hut Point” on the island scouting Adelie penguins and Waddell seals. They were never plentiful here but the location was convenient. By this time in the late summer season, a gravel beach emerged from the retreating sea ice which made it possible to get low, where as normally your up pretty high on a cliff shooting downward. I used a Canon R5 w/ 100-500mm lens at 500mm, 1/250 sec, f/13, ISO 800. Minimal processing other than crop and sharpening.
Keith: A face any mother would love and the expressive eyes carry the day. The only place I perceive any color is in the eyes so did you desaturate everything else or was this the real tone? Either way I think it really works great. >=))>
Thanks Bill! No changes to color from the RAW image and Canon R5 color profile was set to “Standard”. I had to double check my Lightroom develop settings and I am embarrassed to say I did nothing other than crop this image and convert to jpeg for export. This was a real struggle with my time down there that there were very few colors and mostly harsh light.
Wonderful!! I think the crop is just right – I hear you about the difficulty of finding a good place to crop, but this one works. You caught a very interesting expression – like he’s not delighted to chat, but not hostile either. Maybe a little bored? You caught excellent detail that brings out a lot of character.
Great image! I live the expression on the seals face and the ice on his head. Definitely tells a great story. I really like everything about the image but maybe for me try a little more room to the right and below the frame?
Thank you @Diane_Miller@Huw_Thomas@timothy3 for the feedback! I like where you’re going Timothy with adding more room. I will add a rework to my post. The challenge is choosing that super close intimate frame with the eyes and ice on his face vs a more environmentally focused image that tells the story for the weekly challenge topic. The more I look at the repost the more I like that crop!
Keith, the bits of melting ice and the good look at both eyes are the keys in the original post. While, it’s not looking as directly at you in the repost, I do like seeing more of the tapered neck. If you have more on the lef in the original, my preference would be the first post with a bit more added on the left. If you don’t have it, the good eye contact with both eyes looks the best to me.
Good grief, I posted the wrong image on my repost! It is now corrected. Good eye by @Mark_Seaver ! So now you can see what I started with. Feel free to crop and post it as you see fit.
Keith, I’d suggest cropping from the left, somewhere close to the lowest part of the back. Then, it’s the shape of your choice based on how much emphasis you want to put on the seal.
