Water Mammals

[soren]

just a few of many shots i grabbed while over at the Vancouver Aquarium a few weeks ago. I must say the Belugas were by far my favourite, they seemed to be attracted to cameras and had a smile on their faces

and those otters never let go! my paretns were there about a month back and they were stuck in that same pose, paw to paw coasting around their little pond.

aih, what am i doing in calgary... i belong on the coast

but please comment and critique




1) D70 - 22mm - 1/250s - f/3.8 - uv




2) D70 - 70mm - 1/320s - f/9 - polarizer+uv





3) D70 - 70mm - 1/160s - f/6.3 - polarizer+uv

[mjm]

I really dig the 2nd photo. I like how the light is hitting the whale just under the surface and that the background is completely blacked out. The contrast between the whale & background is excellent. The other 2 are OK, but not as good IMHO.

::OFF TOPIC::

I went to that aquarium on my trip to Canada. Our car was rental car was broken into in the parking lot.
http://www.mattmcinvale.com/gallery/...er_BC/IMG_7613

[kkraczek]

Great job Matt, I love all of them! I'm partial to the first one because it's a dolphin, but they are all very well shot, IMO. Thanks for posting these!

[Wings]

I like the 2nd one best, for about all the reasons mjm mentioned.

Well done Matt ;)

[gahspidy]

I like the second shot as well. The colors in the first one are nice, but the reflections and blackbg in the second shot are very nice.

[natatbeach]

really captures that feeling you get when you have the chance to see a Beluga

I saw one when I was about 12 and this picture brough that feeling back...they are so serene.

The smiles on their faces always made me think that they were the Mona Lisa of whales...smirking and thinking bt we'll never know at what...technically I think it's well composed and well exposed (for my taste) and it's a beautiful shot....

[kamboura]

I am also looking for that feeling that Natalie referred to, and I am thinking, this picture would have been better if it was less busy on the whale's back. Then you really get the feeling, and how his eyes are closed, and it looks like it is taking a nap while swimming... Having said that... no clue how to remove those reflections (polorizer maybe? no clue !!!)

[bobbythebandit]

Wow talk about impact! excellent work.

[Lava Lamp]

I like them all - taken together they form a nice set. The water makes them look like some sort of photoshop filter was applied, but it works nicely.

[soren]

thx for all the comments

I am also looking for that feeling that Natalie referred to, and I am thinking, this picture would have been better if it was less busy on the whale's back. Then you really get the feeling, and how his eyes are closed, and it looks like it is taking a nap while swimming... Having said that... no clue how to remove those reflections (polorizer maybe? no clue !!!)

i do see how the reflections can be a bit distracting, but a polarizer filter was used and im not to sure how else i could avoid. although i dont see it being that big of a problem

[Young Shooter]

i like all the pictures they, show how awsome it was that day, honesly did u do work in ps b/c the coloring is amazing

[soren]

i like all the pictures they, show how awsome it was that day, honesly did u do work in ps b/c the coloring is amazing

yes minimal work was done. cropping and slight adjustment to brightness and contrast on some i believe (its been a while since i edited them). here are the originals to compare

im surprised how well the dolphin shot came out considering how thick and dirty the glass i was shooting through was

[Young Shooter]

well honestly i think u over do all ur pictures in photoshop like when u had those sunsets up anywayz they look better original then how you did it, the otter one is the best one, they way u did the colorin in ps on they the water was distracting for the animals, u shouldnt mess with ur pictures so much, they will look better, like makeup free, ehehe honestly i feel when i use ps i feel like its cheating, anywayz tell me what u think about that, ttyl

[Wings]

honestly i feel when i use ps i feel like its cheating

Nah, don't you worry, because then an ordinary darkroom would be cheating too and so would be the use of special filters. Not correcting an image that could use a slight correction, now that would be wrong. But, I repeat again, Photoshop doesn't take pictures and when it comes to it, neither does the camera or a darkroom, it's the person who's in control, don't forget that ;)
Take for example cropping. Is that cheating? Well, I can tell you this, cropping an image is also done with traditional photographs, only the method is different, but the result is the same.

The fact that a person does take the time to make these corrections, is a sign that he's aware of what can be improved. This can help him not to make the same mistakes the second time. Imaging software can also help a photographer to experiment. A few examples:

How would the image have looked

- with a different crop
- with different lighting
- with different DOF
- without a color cast
- with a straight horizon
- without a distracting element
etc.

People even experimented years ago, when they didn't have a computer. I know people who cut out a little frame of paper and looked through this frame as if it were the viewfinder of a camera. It allowed them to train their eyes, without having the need for a heavy camera.

Of course feel free to disagree with me Young Shooter, I don't have a problem with that, it's the mixture of different views that make this an interesting forum.

I just wanted to share my personal view on this subject and the more views Soren can read about, the easier it is for him to decide which methods suit him best.

[soren]

well honestly i think u over do all ur pictures in photoshop like when u had those sunsets up anywayz they look better original then how you did it, the otter one is the best one, they way u did the colorin in ps on they the water was distracting for the animals, u shouldnt mess with ur pictures so much, they will look better, like makeup free, ehehe honestly i feel when i use ps i feel like its cheating, anywayz tell me what u think about that, ttyl

not sure what your standards are on a natural shot, but these have been only slightly adjusted in ps to bring it back to what the real eye would see

i went back and edited them again to see what i did



otter shot was a bit over exposed it was a simple brightness adjustment, so not sure what u mean by over doing it with colors?

dolphin shot had a blue haze from shooting through the glass, and i thought auto levels did a good job of clearing that one up. i can see how this change may be a bit extreme compared to the original but i like how it turned out.

beluga shot was a bit green (due to the tank being green), so i just made sure the beluga was closer to white like it should be

and as for my sunset shots, the first one was only cropped VERY slightly and the second i just turned up the brightness a bit and later corrected for the crooked horizon


if you take your pictures to get developed usually they will go through this exact same process to correct the photos anyways


so whats the difference if i change my white balance or exposure on the camera while taking the shot as to correcting those small imperfections later with ps. correct me if im wrong young shooter but you have a D70 as well? i thought you would understand that PS is a valuable tool when shooting with such a camera to produce top notch shots or any camera for that matter.

[soren]

Nah, don't you worry, because then an ordinary darkroom would be cheating too and so would be the use of special filters. Not correcting an image that could use a slight correction, now that would be wrong. But, I repeat again, Photoshop doesn't take pictures and when it comes to it, neither does the camera or a darkroom, it's the person who's in control, don't forget that ;)
Take for example cropping. Is that cheating? Well, I can tell you this, cropping an image is also done with traditional photographs, only the method is different, but the result is the same.

The fact that a person does take the time to make these corrections, is a sign that he's aware of what can be improved. This can help him not to make the same mistakes the second time. Imaging software can also help a photographer to experiment. A few examples:

How would the image have looked

- with a different crop
- with different lighting
- with different DOF
- without a color cast
- with a straight horizon
- without a distracting element
etc.

People even experimented years ago, when they didn't have a computer. I know people who cut out a little frame of paper and looked through this frame as if it were the viewfinder of a camera. It allowed them to train their eyes, without having the need for a heavy camera.

Of course feel free to disagree with me Young Shooter, I don't have a problem with that, it's the mixture of different views that make this an interesting forum.

I just wanted to share my personal view on this subject and the more views Soren can read about, the easier it is for him to decide which methods suit him best.

thank you for explaining what i was thinking but couldnt spit out lol

and young shooter, that last post was in no way intended as an attack on you or your post ( i re-read my previous post and it came off kinda strong). just trying to clarify and explain my views on the matter as well

[Young Shooter]

okay thanks alot guys for clearing that up