Grey seal puppy
Apr, 2019Views
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Outstanding Creativity
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Behind The Lens
Location
The picture was taken on the island of Helgoland, Germany. It hosts a big colony of common seals and grey seals, besides a lot of seabirds.Time
It was still early in the day but this young seal enjoyed the first sunny hours of the dayLighting
The sun was rising in the early hours so there was a lot of contrast to be expected in the picture. The light coloured sand made a great fill-in light so the contrast was all in all not a problem.Equipment
The camera was handheld on a very low point of view, I was flat on the sandy beach. I used a telephoto lens so I could keep some distance to the baby seal. Moreover it made a shallow depth of field so the face of the puppy would stand out.Inspiration
I was thinking of a mono coloured picture given the white coat of the puppy. So I focused on the darker parts, eyes, mouth, nose to contrast with the white coat.Editing
I softened the contrast so there would be some details in the white fury coat and the shadowed part would not be to dark.In my camera bag
I use a canon 7D mkII body. At the time I had a canon 400mm/f 5.6 lens with a 1.4 teleconverter. I think it is a great combination for wildlife, but you need a lot of light given the fact that you work on a f8.0 because of the converter. So nowadays I use a sigma 500mm/f 4.0 sport and 1.4 converter.Feedback
Well in wildlife photography you never control the scene and you have to be on the lookout for opportunities. So it helps if you keep a mental list in mind of possible compositions, lighting, point of views in case nature and its wildlife is kind to you.
