Glance Worthy?

Glance Worthy?

I was about to call this one "NOT a Fox!" until Nate posted his otter shot. So I guess it's time for the aquatic mammals to strut! 

After decades of persecution and intentional population reductions, Harbour Seals are finally back to "normal" numbers on BC's coast. But despite their current abundance and how "commonplace" they've become, I still love to photograph them. So if you're ever with me on the coast, you'll probably notice how I'm always watching for absolutely every chance I can find to shoot them. And, even with a collection of thousands of seal shots, there's still a minimum of ONE seal image that resides ONLY in my head (and that I haven't been able to execute on yet)...but I'll keep the details of THAT image to myself until I eventually capture it!

Why the attraction to seals as photographic subjects? A lot of reasons. First, I love their huge eyes - seen up close (and in the right light) they almost have a deep magenta colour to them. So haunting! Second, their bushy whiskers are attractive in themselves, and become even more so when water droplets bead up on them. Third, if you can find them in calm water you are often presented with great visual bonuses - like interesting ripples or reflections, and both soft and rich foreground and background colors. Fourth, seen in the right light, the species shows a wide (and beautiful) range of coat colours. And, last but not least, they have an interesting habit of knowing just when you're about to trigger the shutter - and habitually dive below the surface only milliseconds before you get your shot; so they're a great challenge to work with!

When I first saw this seal it had popped to the surface close to our Zodiac and began swimming by us on a line parallel to our direction of drifting. At first it was swimming on boring (and image-ruining!) bright water that was reflecting the bright sky, but then it swam into some much darker-colored water that took on the deep green colors of a background forest. When it was right beside us it turned its head at us for a very quick glance, which is exactly when I nabbed this shot. Nice to rate as "glance-worthy" to a seal! Even though the head turn lasted only a second or so, I noticed (and loved) how the small leading wave and reflection "converged" on the seal (and functioned as lines leading one's eye to the seal). And I also loved how this seal totally mistimed its escape - instead of diving under milliseconds BEFORE my shot, this time it dove down milliseconds AFTER my shot. Gotta love those mix-ups!

Subject:  Swimming Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina)
Location: Johnstone Strait Region, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4s
Lens: Sigma Sport 150-600mm zoom @ 600mm. Hand-held from floating Zodiac. Optical stabilization on and in "OS1" mode.
Exposure: 1/1250s @ f8; ISO 1600. -0.33 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Limited to moderate - this is about 80% of full frame...

As always, a lot more info about this shot (this time including a bit of a chat about why the Sigma Sport 150-600 won a spot in my kit over the Nikkor 200-500) and a 2400 pixel version of the shot - can be found here on my website:

http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/latest/.

Comments and critiques welcomed - probably best to view the larger version prior to doing so!

Cheers...

Brad

PS: Like all wildlife images on my website and that I post on NPN, the subject(s) is/are fully wild and completely unconstrained. Besides the potential impact of my/our presence, nothing has been done to intentionally alter or affect the ongoing behavior of the subject and, of course, there has been no use of any form of bait or other form of wildlife attractants/luring devices (including vocalizations or other sounds).