Blubber Mandy...for C&C please...

[IzzieK]

I am getting sick of airplane editing so I went back to last week's shoot at the S.Louis Zoo's Sea Lion Sound Show...

1 Environment shot: The Lichtenstein Sea Lion Arena home to the Sea Lions Show features a 811-seat amphitheater, 40,000 gallon see-through pool, a rock bridge extending to the audience and a high diving platform and slide to show off the sea lions' natural abilities. The new habitat is a saltwater environment containing nearly 250,000 gallons of water. This show was shot on a very sunny day two weeks ago. We went there specifically for the sea lions. I know I did not do a very good job as this was the first time I was able to do any photography since March due to real life getting in my way of shooting, But I hope I did well on pp at least…



2 Big on Looks—Not my best shot here when he decided to sulk and have enough training and people. They are just like us…sometimes we need our space too when it becomes too much. Anyway, Sea lions have a thick layer of fat, called blubber, which helps with buoyancy and swimming, serves as an energy reserve, and helps to regulate their body temperature.

Sea lions have the same bone structure in their fore flippers as humans have in hands, though theirs are modified for swimming. They also have five “fingers” in their hind flippers – they even have three toenails. Sea lions can rotate their hind flippers under their body, allowing them to stand on all four limbs. Using both their fore flippers and hind flippers, they are able to walk on land.



3 Balancing Act -- A sea lion’s whiskers contain nerves that make them sensitive to vibrations. They use their whiskers to find their way around and detect vibrations from prey in the water. A sea lion can balance a ball by feeling the ball with its whiskers and adjusting its head and body to keep it stable.



4 Holy Mackerel! California sea lions can eat over 30 pounds of food per day. They eat restaurant-quality fish. To prepare it, we make sure it’s thawed all the way. They eat capelin, mackerel, herring, and in the summer, squid. The males eat 20 to 30 pounds of fish a day, and our females eat about half of that.



5 Holy Mackerel! 2



6 Holy Mackerel! 3 -- This one's expression is cute so I included this image here...



I hope you all enjoyed these meager collection. There are more but some I have to bin, some I kept to go back on editing later on, more like "maybe"...

Any comments will be appreciated and welcome with open arms...Thanks for viewing.
(In short, back to gardening...hehehe...)

[Geoff F]

Some obviously harsh lighting issues there, Izzie, but these do work for me.

#2 was particularly tricky. Maybe I would clone over the hot spot at the base of the animal's neck.

#3 has some rather dark midtones, but it still works OK and I fear that any attempt at 'improvement' is only going to make things worse.

#4 has a few hot spots but I don't think there is any alternative with that scene.

#5 is OK although I would work on the hot spots

#6 is a little on the dark side while there is a potentially bright area in the top left corner. However, I think it should be possible to slightly brighten the midtones while darkening that light spot. I would consider working in Luminosity Blend mode so as to just change the brightness without effecting the saturation.

With all of these images, any adjustment should be minor; it will be very easy to overdo any 'corrections'.

[Shadowman]

Nice series, good crisp conversions.

[Dave A]

Fun series, I like it.

Dave

[Ziggy]

Black seal in bright sunshine then convert to B&W, that's tough. I think you did well.

[IzzieK]

Thank you for your review I had edited #2 on my computer and was pleased with the results. I will continue editing the rest of them when I have more time... I appreciate your kind words. I was thinking at the time that if I concentrate on changing my settings, I will have lost most of the acts in the show. I was shooting bursts and bracketted and the show was at 1pm -- not a very good time to do any shooting...

Some obviously harsh lighting issues there, Izzie, but these do work for me.

#2 was particularly tricky. Maybe I would clone over the hot spot at the base of the animal's neck.

#3 has some rather dark midtones, but it still works OK and I fear that any attempt at 'improvement' is only going to make things worse.

#4 has a few hot spots but I don't think there is any alternative with that scene.

#5 is OK although I would work on the hot spots

#6 is a little on the dark side while there is a potentially bright area in the top left corner. However, I think it should be possible to slightly brighten the midtones while darkening that light spot. I would consider working in Luminosity Blend mode so as to just change the brightness without effecting the saturation.

With all of these images, any adjustment should be minor; it will be very easy to overdo any 'corrections'.

[IzzieK]

Nice series, good crisp conversions.

Thank you John.

[IzzieK]

Fun series, I like it.

Dave

Thanks, Dave.

[IzzieK]

Black seal in bright sunshine then convert to B&W, that's tough. I think you did well.

b/
Thanks Ziggy -- that was nice of you to think so. I decided to convert to mono because of the background, the busyness of the place. I enjoyed the show very much.

[rtbaum]

Just in from transplanting day-lilies......I enjoyed this series.....back to the garden

[Wavelength]

I really enjoyed these images...i enjoy seeing animals sharing activities with human beings

[bnnrcn]

Enjoyable set Isabel, 3 and 6 are my favs

[IzzieK]

Just in from transplanting day-lilies......I enjoyed this series.....back to the garden

I transplanted some of mine two months ago and there are more I need to do...so much work. today is the last day of sunshine for a good while...we will have rain all week from tonight till like, forever. thank for flitting in...

[IzzieK]

I really enjoyed these images...i enjoy seeing animals sharing activities with human beings

thanks Nandy...they are great when they can also share emotions...I must go back there again and try to shoot better. 'Appreciate your dropping by.

[IzzieK]

Enjoyable set Isabel, 3 and 6 are my favs

Thank you for commenting, Binnur...'appreciate your choice. I am glad you like them.

[rudi]

Late to the party Izzie, but I enjoyed them very much !!!

[IzzieK]

Late to the party Izzie, but I enjoyed them very much !!!

Thank you for passing by and commenting, Rudi...never too late to my party...I am glad you like them..

[flashback]

Izzie I think you did a great job here. Never the best lighting or vantage point but you got some really good shots. #2 I like because the seal looks for all the world like a bronze statue, it has that metallic look to it. And #6 for the obvious cute look.

Of course I don't believe in keeping wild animals for the amusement of people and feel that they shouldn't be photographed as it reduces their dignity. [hahaha just kidding, just keeping the pot stirred ]

[IzzieK]

Thanks Jack...you made me laugh...I am glad you finally noticed this post...I am still waiting for yours...ha!
As for the blubbers, I believe there are 7 of them in the tank. All of them came and was born from the other zoos and only 3 of them were born at the St. Louis' zoo. I think Mandy is one of them born there. I am not sure...and the first one that performed. Mandy is a "greenie" -- she was trained to pick up empty bottles from the floor and put it in a recycle bin. I have some of them in my shots of him...Not one of the sea lions there ever seen the wild blue ocean for real...

I love those two also...it shows he's got "feelings" too like us. ...and can "play cutie" at will. Very expressive -- for $4 it was worth going to. Thank you for dropping by and commenting. I appreciate it very much...Don't I know you are one to stir the pot?!!?

Izzie I think you did a great job here. Never the best lighting or vantage point but you got some really good shots. #2 I like because the seal looks for all the world like a bronze statue, it has that metallic look to it. And #6 for the obvious cute look.

Of course I don't believe in keeping wild animals for the amusement of people and feel that they shouldn't be photographed as it reduces their dignity. [hahaha just kidding, just keeping the pot stirred ]

[Dave Humphries]

Got room for one more "late to the party" poster Izzie?

Like the others; I'll largely ignore #1 as being 'just a scene setter', that said, it serves it's purpose well.

#2 - There's something bizarre happened here; the head and whiskers appear to show motion blur, but the shutter speed was 1/1250s, so I doubt it was that unless you snapped it while it was swinging its head very fast, so perhaps some odd happened in PP? Looks like you have been playing with masks and effects to soften the background and surroundings.

#3 - It is apparent the right flipper was moving in this shot, but seems OK sharpness wise. Yes, ideally some better separation of subject from background would be ideal, but in terms of distance and tones, you had problems with this beyond your control; whether a very skilful bit of Curves adjustments could achieve it I don't know - I might try it, but would only gives myself a 20% chance of success.

#4 - Unfortunate timing and trajectory have combined to make this slightly less than ideal, but beyond shooting lots more frames, this was again beyond your control.

#5 - Looks like you have applied a Radial blur filter, but the shot was worth a bit more time spent on masking to apply the blur IMHO.

#6 - well worth including - nothing wrong with 'cute', but I would tone down that background highlight. Odd; when I viewed this earlier, but didn't have time to compile a reply, I'm sure something else struck me as "could be imroved", ut now I cannot see what it was.

HTH, Dave