Dolphins

[grouseking]

Ok, not wild animals, but close enough...

I was down in Baltimore this weekend at the aquarium, and I got a few shots of some playful dolphins. Suggestions and critique welcome.

First, a dolphin saying "hello"



How can I clear this photo up a little, and make it seem more amazing than it looks. Well let me rephrase that: This dolphin jumped 20 feet to touch the ball, which was amazing. But the picture looks kind of boring to me. Is there anything that can remedy this?



enjoy!

grouseking

 

[nartreb]

Tough shot. I can't see the full-size version (filters at work) but I think you've got motion blur. See if a little sharpening helps.

If it weren't blurry, I'd be curious what a really tight crop on the dolphin would do.
As it is, I'd crop to emphasise the dolphin and the air beneath it: Lose most everything above the ball, and some of the right side (I'd cut just to the right of the green hoops).
Then I'd try desaturating the yellow channel in a limited area on the upper right side - so you don't have such a spotlight effect from the lamps. A plainer background will give more emphasis to the dolphin.
I'd also try adjusting highlights and contrast on the left side, so as to emphasize the water droplets. That's the part of the shot that says "motion" to me.

 

[Chip]

very nice. we would see them often surfing in Cape Hatteras. wind surfing once, in the chesapeake bay on the virginia beach side of the bridge/tunnel, I was overtaken by a pod of large porpoise/bottle nose dolphins (not sure which exactly but they were BIG). Really neat experience. I had a mother and baby right next to me. I could have touched them if I could of let go of the sail boom.

 

[kmorgan]

Did a quick color adjustment, reduced some noise and sharpened. Then cropped a bit...

Don't know if this is what you meant, but here's what I got:

another crop:

Kevin

 

[grouseking]

Ooh, I like the 2nd one the most. It definitely shows much better what was going on. Those dolphins will do anything for a pail of fish.

Thanks!

grouseking

 

[nartreb]

Yep, the second one is close to what I had in mind. For rule-of-thirds purposes, you might want to leave a little more of the right side in place, but then you have the problem of cropping through the middle of the pile of toys. My initial proposal was to crop to the right of the pile, but kmorgan's version is better. I also like the fact that he cropped out the thin white wall-corner from the left edge. My one critique is that he's cropped out the bottom of the splash, making it hard to identify.

 

[Grumpy]

The cropped versions of your second photo are definitely more appealing, simply because they focus more attention on the subject.

But ...

I am going to recommend cropping a lot tighter on the sides to get rid of distractions. The second cropped version comes closest, but I would have preferred to see more off the top and less off the bottom to tie the the splash ring on the pool surface in with the jump.

You do have some camera motion and subject motion blur issues here. Tough to resolve in post processing.

One final comment, offered as an observation and not as a criticism:

Shooting good pictures of animal exhibits (and other events) from the public peanut gallery can be a monumental challenge. Not saying it can't be done, but ... it's really tough to get an exceptional shot from there.

Photographic life gets much better if you can wangle your way into the arena area. That brings you closer to the action, and changes the perspective to give the photo viewer a much more intimate look at what is going on. Freedom to move around without interfering with the performance (or audience view) enhances the probability of getting really knockout shots.

I won't offer any professional secrets or tips for gaining access, save to say that working for a newspaper (especially a smaller local) doesn't necessarily pay all that well in dollars, but a press pass gives you access to events in ways that sometimes can be priceless.

G.

 

[kmorgan]

...so like this:

Kevin

 

[nartreb]

Since this forum isn't open to the public, I'll briefly mention that carrying a really big lens (and various other photo gear) is almost as good as a press pass. The trick is to always look like you know what you're doing.

 

[Grumpy]

Kevin, ref your post #8. I like the crop top and bottom better, but think the splash at the water surface could be closer to the bottom of the frame.

Also -- and I apologize for not mentioning this before, as I intended to -- cropping much tighter on the left and a little tighter on the right would eliminate a lot of distracting details, put all attention on the dolphin and handler, and make the photo more dramatic. That would turn it into a very narrow vertical, which this photo naturally wants to be.

G.