Fins and Blubber, An Elephant Seal Abstract

This is my kind of wildlife photography, big animals that like to lie around on the beach all day.
Thanks,
Rudy
D700, 70-300mm, @270mm

Rudy, the patterns are perfect here. You can tell they flapping the dirt on themselves to cool off because they were too lazy to go back for a dip.

O we see that down at Huntington Beach every summer...and they're coated in oil. Just kidding how'd you get them to line up so perfectly? I like the way you thought this image out, at least it appears you did.

Paul

Rudi,

This is just excellent! You might try a little selective sharpening on the foreground seal; it looks a tad soft. The symmetry, shapes, and textures are what makes it for me.

Well done!

=P

Awesome! This is hillarious, beautiful, and intriguing... a real winner in my book!

Rudy,

Wonderful nature portrait and story. Looks like something one could find in Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz or Fisherman's Wharf, SF... but you've isolated this in to a terrific image.

I'm with Preston in thinking that the bottom seal is a bit soft - I'm sure because of the long lens and aperture. You can either enhance the sharpening up front, OR I actually think this image would be just as great if you only had three of these beasts instead of all four... :-) Regardless, a great image.

Lon

Excellent! Very creative and well executed.

I second Lon's suggestions. Very creative shot, seeing this was one of those "I wish I had thought of that!" moments. Was this taken at Piedras Blancas?

Thanks, everyone. I took this in San Simeon last month. There's a well marked parking area for elephant seal viewing along Hwy 1. Don't go there, unless you like crowds. There's another parking lot about a mile up the highway and a trail that goes north along the cliffs and beaches. Plenty of seals and few people. These are young males. The big guys return in the winter to battle for mates. And they’re HUGE! I shot this at f5.6 (hand held), which explains the shallow dof. I'll try some sharpening or cropping.
Thanks,
Rudy

Love the strong patterns captured here. Really well thought out compositionally. If you can add a little more sharpening to the fg and bg seal it would be nice, but this more than works as presented. Very nice!