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Playful Pair


Playful Pair
Photo Information
Copyright: Paul Prince (PDP) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2964 W: 366 N: 3848] (11751)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-01-21
Categories: Mammals
Camera: Canon EOS 20D, Sigma 50-500mm f/4-6.3 EX APO RF, Digital ISO 200, Hoya skylight (1B)
Exposure: f/9.0, 1/500 seconds
Details: Tripod: Yes
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Other [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2006-01-26 8:25
Viewed: 1600
Favorites: 4 [view]
Points: 62
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
The Grey Seal (Halichoerus grypus) is found on both shores of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a large seal of the family Phocidae or "true seals". It is the only species classified in the genus Halichoerus. Its name is alternatively spelled Gray seal and is also known as Atlantic Grey Seal.


In Britain and Ireland, the Grey Seal breeds in several colonies on and around the coasts; notably large colonies are at the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast (about 6,000 animals), and North Rona off the north coast of Scotland and Lambay Island off the coast of Dublin. It is the largest native mammal in the British Isles, with the bulls reaching 2.5-3.3m long and weighing up to 300kg; the cows are much smaller, typically 1.6-2m long and 100-150kg weight. It is the typical seal of the northern and western coasts, the Common Seal being more often seen off southeastern coasts.

In the Western North Atlantic, grey seals are typically found in large numbers all along the coast of North America up to about the coastal waters of New Jersey in the United States. In Canada, they are typically seen in areas like the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland and the Maritimes, and Quebec. In the United States one finds them year round off the New England coasts (in particular Maine and Massachusetts) and slightly less frequently in the Middle Atlantic States, though their natural range extends to Virginia. During the winter months they can be seen hauled out on the rocks, islands, and shoals not far from shore, like great grey bananas in the sun, and occasionally coming ashore to rest. In the spring the recently weaned pups and yearlings occasionally strand on beaches after becoming "lost".


The pups are born in autumn (September to November) in the eastern Atlantic and in winter (January to February) in the west, with a dense, soft silky white fur; at first they are small and shrivelled-looking, but they rapidly fatten up to look like over-filled barrels, from the extremely fat-rich milk they receive from their mothers. Within a month or so, they shed the pup fur and grow the dense waterproof adult fur, and soon leave for the sea to learn to fish for themselves. In recent years, the number of grey seals has been on the rise in the west, and in Canada their have been calls for culling the number of seals, however this does not appear to be coming to fruition any time soon.


I hope you like it

Information from www.Wikipedia.org
Runnerduck, hummingbird24, Fisher, Demetrio, thistle, odin, ellis49, gerhardt, wallhalla15, dew77, slrnovice2, Janice, scottevers7, chouette, sAner, red45, tinman, janhendrik, TAZ, cedryk, deud, klemmg, anavazao has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To janhendrik: sharpeningPDP 2 01-27 06:24
To gerhardt: ShotsPDP 1 01-26 14:22
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Critiques [Translate]

A great composition, superb detail and use of light. Really like the sand flying all over the place and the rough sea in the bg.
Thanks for posting.

  • Great 
  • Dando Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 643 W: 32 N: 790] (3052)
  • [2006-01-26 8:32]

An amazing composition Paul, what a magical moment you have captured. Excellent detail and lighting. TFS.
Dean.

Hi Paul,

Excellent shot and well done on the composition. Crisp, clear, the mud splatter and colors are perfect. Beautiful work. Well presented.

Mike

Thanks a great shot, love the action these two are at. Well captured, good work Paul.

Demetrio

This is excellent shot!
The seals look lovely and the action is perfectly frozen.
Love the reflection in wet sand, bits of mud in the air, sea in BG, poses of the seals, ligting, colours... and everything else.
It's PERFECT for me!

Very well done my friend. I like everything about it..An excellent moment captured. Perfect!

  • Great 
  • odin Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 196 W: 1 N: 213] (1143)
  • [2006-01-26 9:58]

Nice shot Paul, This Grey seal are very beautyfull. The picture is very clear and sharp, the colors ant the contrast are great. WEll done
Sébastien

Hi Paul.
the light and colours are beautiful.
The low POV and the composition are excellent.
When I first saw the sand in the air, I thoght you have some dirt on the sensor ;-)
Excellent work.

Here is one of those photos that I wish I had taken, Paul.

Not only for the great image that you have shared with us, but also for the sheer joy in the taking of it!

Superb and perfect in all ways.

Thank you!

Absolutely fantastic Paul, this is great. Everything is excellent about this image plus you captured fun playtime with these two. Well done. :)

Hi, Paul.
Very sympatic pair. Most of all I like the action you have captured here. Though quality is also excellent. Just pleasure to look it.

Hello Paul, very good moment you captured! Excellent sharpness, details colours and lighting. Great POV, composition and note! Very well done! Thank you.

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5171 W: 297 N: 4050] (13069)
  • [2006-01-26 14:44]

Hello Paul!
Funny capture.I liked pose of seals,POV,framing,
sharpness,details and composition a lot.
TFS...:-)

  • Great 
  • chiliu Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1549 W: 0 N: 1158] (6414)
  • [2006-01-26 14:56]

Hi Paul,
Fantastic shot!
Perfect exposed and excellent lighting,
great POV and very nice colour.
Thanks for sharing!

  • Great 
  • reina Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 261 W: 1 N: 321] (1978)
  • [2006-01-26 16:58]

Hi Paul, excellent composition, fresh and funny. TFS Reina

Hi Paul, I like this even better than the previous one. The light is lovely and there is such a wonderful sense of movement and playfulness in it. Great technique as usual from you. Wonderful and straight into my favourites. Thank you :)

  • Great 
  • Janice Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3410 W: 144 N: 5796] (17179)
  • [2006-01-26 17:20]

What a wonderful action shot of this pair Paul. You've caught them and the splashes of sand real well. Nice and sharp too. Well done
Janice

  • Great 
  • jossim Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1676 W: 5 N: 2144] (11866)
  • [2006-01-26 18:01]

Une fantastique prise de vue sur ces phoques. L'action est excellente avec cette boue dans les airs. L'image est nette et l'éclairage fait bien ressortir les belles couleurs et les détails.

Félicitations pour cette conposition et merci pour l'envoie Paul.


Joseph

Hi Paul,
An excellent shot with great interaction between the seals. The detail, DOF, and clarity are superb! Great photo.
Scott

That's a great shot Paul! Wonderful light and colors. Sharpness and details are excellent. Nice composition too. Thanks for sharing!

  • Great 
  • sAner Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1654 W: 79 N: 1456] (4742)
  • [2006-01-27 1:53]

Hi Paul,

I like it a lot. Good action shot, with the sand flying everywhere. Crispy clear details and excellent POV. This is a good one and you know it. TFS!

Regards,
Pieter

  • Great 
  • red45 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2801 W: 75 N: 7845] (26257)
  • [2006-01-27 2:44]

Hi Paul!

It is great pleasure to see photo of really happy animals! Playing seals - what an excellent idea! Great faces, poses, composition, all in sunlight. Superb shot!

Super post Paul - lovely POV and the timing spot on. Good lighting and saturation in the fur. Well done

Hi Paul,

Another one of your great pictures. That small aperture gave you a good DOF. The focus is fantastic, and the picture is so clear and crisp. The action is fantasticly depicted by the flying sand. Perfect!

Would you mind letting me know what how you sharpened the picture? What was the sharpening setting on your 20D? Default at 0, or was it set to +1 or +2. I ask because the sharpening that you have done on this picture is what I would consider perfect.

Anyway, well done!

Jan-Hendrik

  • Great 
  • TAZ Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2395 W: 50 N: 3190] (10896)
  • [2006-01-27 4:40]

Hello Paul !
What a wonderful and interesting pair that you have very well captured ! You have an impressive zoom... I also appreciate the complementary note. Congratulations Paul and thanks for sharing.

You didn't get the shots you wanted...????

This is stunning. Amazing how much different they are form our fur seals. Lovely light and POV. Great shot.

Love the sand flying around!

  • Great 
  • cedryk Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 954 W: 57 N: 1604] (4949)
  • [2006-01-29 14:40]

Hello Paul,
Fantastic shot of this family happiness!
No other comments needed :-)
Best greetings,
Michal

  • Great 
  • deud Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 491 W: 2 N: 459] (2079)
  • [2006-01-30 7:24]

wowch! amazing shot. brilliant focus. great colors. excellent note. tfs

  • Great 
  • klemmg Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 302 W: 40 N: 484] (1719)
  • [2006-01-30 16:41]

Great playful scene masterfully captured, love the low point of view, wonderful light, and good composition.
Gabi

Hi,
great moment, composition, note and details!
The fight!
Ana:)

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