When the Sea Lions catch a salmon and come to the surface, the first thing they usually do is whip it back & forth extremely hard and fast to snap it into pieces that are easier to swallow quickly. In this photo, the splashes from the fish parts hitting the water made like a screen in front of the Sea Lion. The result was a rather unique image with a bit of an artistic appeal (at least in my opinion).
Specific Feedback Requested
I like this shot because it is unusual and different rather than just another sharp shot of a Sea Lion. However I may be the only one with that outlook so it would be interesting to hear what other’s think.
Technical Details
Sony a6500, FE200600G @ 303mm (454mm w/crop factor), ISO-250, f/6.3, 1/1600, hand held.
Gary, having just greatly admired your two-eagles photo, I am in two minds about this. It grabs my interest for sure, especially knowing from the description what is going on. And that set of whiskers must surely be the envy of all the others. However, I’d like to see more clearly the salmon, in whatever form it was at this stage. It’s making a great and bloody splash, but I’d prefer an alternative where it is clearly what it is (or was).
Hi Gary, I like this for the action seen with all the water splashing and the open mouth of the seal. While this stands on its own IMO, showing as part of a series would also be effective.
Hi Gary !
It has a great story and great action too and I love the splash, with some traces of blood.
But image suffers on two accounts, it (subject) is too tight and it has too much of splash, actually splash and the Sea Lion got bit mixed up.
Gary, the action shows very well with all the splashing, especially the tall burst of water on the left. It’s an intriguing view, where the story behind it adds a lot of understanding, which may be lacking for a viewer who’s doesn’t know the behavior.
Gary, I’ve come back to this, and for some reason like it more - I think this is because I now see clearly the seal’s mouth and teeth, which I’d overlooked before. Some images definitely grow on one; just goes to show me I need to look more carefully and appreciate more a shot as good as this!
Thanks for commenting, Jagdeept! The reason I posted this photo is exactly that! The Sea Lion and the splash got all mixed up! In fact I like it because it’s actually about the splash rather than the Sea Lion (thus the title). The Sea Lion is recognizable as the source of the splash but that’s the only part it plays in this scene. I have literally hundreds of clear, sharp photos of Sea Lions with fish parts in their mouth (the kind that almost all wildlife photographers want to see) but I like this one because it shows the power and violence of the thrashing action that is caused by the Sea Lion rather than just the sharp parts of the animal and fish. Most reactions to the photo are pretty much exactly what I expected
Hi Mike; glad you came back to look at this again. When I first looked at this image on my computer my first thoughts were like most others (dang, I got the splash & missed the Sea Lion) but as I kept coming back to it I began to like it more and more for it’s artistic appeal rather than it’s photo accuracy. Now it’s one of my personal favorites
