Look closely and you'll notice that these seals have a sheen to them resembling almost a plastic appearance......because they're made of plastic. Another entry for the current macro theme, which is toys. Yes, I possess toy seals...or rather used to. Sadly, the brown one was swept away shortly after this when a rogue wave overtook the two of us. It was me or the seal and I chose me.
What I learned when taking this photo: Shooting in the crashing surf can result is some great photos, but there are a few drawbacks - like potentially ruined equipment, danger to the models, and a wet crotch.
OMG, I started laughing as soon as I saw the photo and knew what you were up to, but I laughed louder and harder as I read your caption!!! If this is a contest for the mini-toys, I'd like to declare you the winner! This is "funny as a stitch"...whatever that was supposed to mean, but it is!
this is really neat Ron.. absolutely love the set-up.. great DoF..
shame you lost a seal but at least it is now famous - even if posthumously..
thanks for the giggle..
I'm so sorry to read of brown seals capture by the wave! Hopefully it has found a home in the sea with many other little seals to play with. The shot is great -- like @pamknowler I thought these were real on first glance. Your storytelling was great.
Wow what an interesting capture and amusing lesson's learned, must have been a little embarrassing walking back to your car with a wet crotch following the shoot Ron, great image by the way:)
@joysfocus Thanks Joy. It was hard to see him get washed away (I have a dramatic photo of his last few minutes on dry land), but a few margaritas helped sooth the pain. Fortunately I have three more like him.
@Weezilou Thanks Louise. Teacher Mary was pretty concerned about my attempts to get down and dirty with my seal shots. I'm told she has an action photo of the three of us getting consumed by the surf. Will let you know on Monday.
@pamknowler Thanks Pam. Yes, the sacrifices we make in the name of getting a decent photo. For all that, this one should have been decenter. That is a word isn't it?
@taffy Thanks Taffy. Always appreciate feedback like this. I'm a bit surprised by how many people thought they were real. Maybe I should use such props more often. ;-)
@pcoulson Ha, thanks Peter. Fortunately my shorts (I wear shorts pretty much 99 44/100th's of the time) dry pretty quickly, so it wasn't too miserable. My shoes, however, that was another story. There's a fair amount of sand in my car's footwells now too. All in the name of a mediocre shot for 365. I need to reexamine my priorities.
@naomi Thanks Naomi - I'm pleased that somebody (you were really the only one!) pointed out my background! I went to a lot of work for that! OK, I'm sure everyone appreciated it, but I guess my travails in trying to get this shot outshone the end result. Thanks for coming by to comment. ;-)
shame you lost a seal but at least it is now famous - even if posthumously..
thanks for the giggle..
Laughed a lot while reading and viewing ...