One that got away

[Grant Sherman]

"Never work with children or animals?"

This seal pup was a great talent until 1st March. Then it learnt to swim and swam away.

Here's its audition for UWOL 2:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...oid=2012705227

[Brendan Marnell]

Incoming tide created an interesting sense of threat, Grant. The flow of water over rounded rocks and stones can be soothing & delightful as well as foreboding & sinister, depending on what effect you choose. I'm looking forward to more of that when the light improves around Lundy, especially when you get closer. Seal pups look cute.

[Kevin Railsback]

Man, that looked EXACTLY like my dog, except that she's a little more skinny, darker in color, has paws instead of flippers and a few other things. But wow, does that seal look like her! :)

Pretty sweet footage.

[Grant Sherman]

Brendan: I need to get a better understanding of white balance + adjusting in post. I did shoot some footage in better light, but that suffered from heat distortion. Overcast skies seem better for image clarity - especially at longer focal lengths. I just bought the EF-XL adaptor so I should get some close up shots soon (if I can find the pup again!). For the first 4 weeks of their life their fur is not waterproof so you shouldn't get nearer than 100m - and they can get abandoned by their mother.

Kevin: Yep, they're very doglike. It confuses my friend's dog when he goes swimming in the summer.

[J. Stephen McDonald]

Talk about seals and dogs. I once had a labrador that would go swimming out in a bay to fetch sticks. The Harbor Seals would slip in underwater and play with her. I think they just bumped her with their noses as I never found any marks on her. At first, she was completely freaked out and practically ran on the water to get back to shore. Later, she started joining in the play and dove underwater with them. That's right, labradors and some other retrievers can dive and swim very well when submerged. I saw her go after a duck by diving in clear water and she folded her front legs back and moved her hindquarters and tail sideways for propulsion. She was going very fast and easily caught the duck. She looked more like a seal down there than a dog.

[Dale Guthormsen]

Grant,

I always enjoy your seal footage, something out here in the prairies we dont have available.

Great to hear you got an ef adapter. I got mine and a 100/400 canon and must say that my first impressions are awesome. So much better than looking through a dslr. The image stabilazation is awesome as well.
the zoom lenses of today are better than the primes of 25 years ago!!

Have you thought what lens you are going to attach to it??

[Grant Sherman]

Stephen: Sounds like your labrador had a lot of fun. I'm hoping to do some snorkelling this year (if I can make the time!). The BBC Wildlife magazine had a feature on snorkelling with seals in their May issue. They put Lundy in the top 5 places in the UK. (Isles of Scilly, Lundy, Skomer, Farne Islands, St Kilda). Maybe next year I'll get an underwater housing...

Dale: I've got a Sigma 70-300 APO and the use of a Canon 100-400 f4.0 IS L. I like the Canon but I need to get a rail to move the camera back on the tripod (it's a bit front heavy - especially at 400mm). The Sigma is a lot lighter, and I've got some great footage with it. The only drawback is that the focus seems loose compared to the canon. You have to use very tiny movements to adjust it.