Blue Whale beached at Bean Hollow, CA

SeaSurfnBird

Just when I read about the 80 foot North Pacific Blue Whale that washed ashore <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Bean</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Hollow</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Beach</st1:PlaceType> just north of Pigeon Point Lighthouse in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">California</st1:State></st1:place> I went down to see it. The tide was low and the State Park Ranger was there with ABC News. I got interviewed for the 11 O’clock News http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/peninsula&id=7708760 but was also able to get some shots. I used my new Sigma 15mm Fisheye lens on my Nikon D90 for most of the close shots and my Nikon 18-55mm for the far shots. The sun was setting so I got some good light. The pregnant female mother whale was apparently struck by a large ship as researchers from the California Academy of Sciences did a necropsy and found several crushed vertebra. The whale was pregnant with a male fetus that apparently was aborted post mortem when it was beached. Although tremendously sad :cry , I found it very interesting to see the specimens as the Blue Whale is the largest animal to ever live on the Earth and the only time I have seen them live is from a boat and you cant really see how huge they are. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
Please give me you comments on the shots and what you think I could do to improve them. I realize that my lens got some spots on it some time during the shot, so I tried to clone them out, but may have not gotten all of them. The are all HDRI through Photomatix Pro and then some distortion lens correction through Lightroom 3 along with a few small adjustments on exposure, clarity, restoration, saturation and vivid. All aperture priority with a 2 stop bracketing sequence. No EV adjustments. <o:p></o:p>
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Here they are: <o:p></o:p>
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You can read more about the experience on my blog at: http://seasurfnbird.blogspot.com/2010/10/blue-whale-beached.html<o:p></o:p>
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ian408

It's also one of the few beaches on the San Mateo County coastline you can walk your dog which is how I know where these were taken

Sad indeed and if there is any good news, it's that others will learn through this event.

She Wolf

A sad event that you photographed very expertly.

jackiejay

aww poor thing it is so sad when they do this

dlplumer

Great and sad find.:D

Since you asked:

1. Your sensor is very dirty, and your

2. PP which appears to be HDR is way over processed imo.

3. I would retouch the dust bunnies, lower sharpening, contrast and saturation. If these are HDRs, you might try using one exposure and make highlight and shadows adjustments on it as needed.

HTH

SeaSurfnBird

dlplumer wrote: »

Great and sad find.:D

Since you asked:

1. Your sensor is very dirty, and your

2. PP which appears to be HDR is way over processed imo.

3. I would retouch the dust bunnies, lower sharpening, contrast and saturation. If these are HDRs, you might try using one exposure and make highlight and shadows adjustments on it as needed.

HTH

Thank you about the sensor . I will look at it right now. I will also keep in mind the PP adjustments. Thank you! Jeff

eoren1

You captured an incredible scene. I like the people in a few frames to add a sense of scale.
As for the HDR work, you may find that you can pull down the vibrance slider in Lightroom to bring down the saturation a bit.
Nice job
E

SeaSurfnBird

eoren1 wrote: »

You captured an incredible scene. I like the people in a few frames to add a sense of scale.
As for the HDR work, you may find that you can pull down the vibrance slider in Lightroom to bring down the saturation a bit.
Nice job
E

yes thank you. I upped the sat to 10 & the vibrance to 6 or so. when I get a chance I will redo them all and repost. Probably 0 vibe and 5 sat. now to figure out how to clean my dirty sensor.
thank you!
Jeff

eoren1

Jeff
After using Photomatix, I highly recommend the following:
Change the curve from 'linear' to 'medium' contrast
Do not add any saturation (keep it at zero)
If it is a bit too saturated, drop down the vibrance to -10 or -15
Consider playing a bit with contrast, black
Sharpen with a 20-30 on masking to keep noise out of the sky
E

SeaSurfnBird

eoren1 wrote: »

Jeff
After using Photomatix, I highly recommend the following:
Change the curve from 'linear' to 'medium' contrast
Do not add any saturation (keep it at zero)
If it is a bit too saturated, drop down the vibrance to -10 or -15
Consider playing a bit with contrast, black
Sharpen with a 20-30 on masking to keep noise out of the sky
E

Wow, very good advice. I have made these changes and will upload them later when the bandwidth allows.
Thank you!
Jeff

SeaSurfnBird

eoren1 wrote: »

Jeff
After using Photomatix, I highly recommend the following:
Change the curve from 'linear' to 'medium' contrast
Do not add any saturation (keep it at zero)
If it is a bit too saturated, drop down the vibrance to -10 or -15
Consider playing a bit with contrast, black
Sharpen with a 20-30 on masking to keep noise out of the sky
E

E-> Here are the photos again with some of the changes. I tried to spot remove as much as I could the obviouse ones in the sky. I also tried to clean my sensor and now do it on start up everytime electronically. (Is there a way to see if the sensor is bad by say taking a photograph of a blank card to see how bad the sensor is? Perhaps I should bring it to professional if it got bad. I think I changed the lens in outdoor windy conditions, and that is not good.


Below are the photographs again as changed above:

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Please let me know if anyone thinks I could improve the above phots in post production anymore than they are. I appreciate it.
Thanks,
Jeff :photo

schmoo

While this is really sad, I admit that after hearing about this I was curious to know what it was like.

You're very lucky to have been there for this. Thanks for sharing!

SeaSurfnBird

schmoo wrote: »

While this is really sad, I admit that after hearing about this I was curious to know what it was like.

You're very lucky to have been there for this. Thanks for sharing!

Yes it is sad. They are still endangered and now that we know it was hit by a boat because the Cal Academy of Sciences discovered several crushed vertabra during their necropsy, there is talk of having these large tanker boats go no more than 10 MPH in the Marine Sanctuaries.
Here is my blog: http://www.seasurfnbird.blogspot.com
Jeff

PGM

The shot with the people in the background really shows how incredibly huge the whale is, and I like it for that reason, as sad as the situation is.

SeaSurfnBird

PGM wrote: »

The shot with the people in the background really shows how incredibly huge the whale is, and I like it for that reason, as sad as the situation is.

Yes, sometimes there were too many people in the frame so I waited, but a few does add perspective that is nessisary for scale.
Thank you!
Jeff

Art Scott

SeaSurfnBird wrote: »

E-> (Is there a way to see if the sensor is bad by say taking a photograph of a blank card to see how bad the sensor is? Perhaps I should bring it to professional if it got bad. I think I changed the lens in outdoor windy conditions, and that is not good.

hanks,
Jeff :photo

I really like the Copper Hill cleaning method......easy peasy ......as to see just how dirty your sensor is...shooting any bright colored flat object should work at say F22.....ISO 100 or 200...or lower.....whatever lowest native iso
personally I just just noon day sky....bright blue no clouds.......then look at them closely....

The CopperHill kit gives you enuff of everything for over a years worth of cleaning, at least for me....I just learned to not shoot at very small apertures......when I see the yuck showing up I just enlarge my aperture until it no long shows.....when I get to around F5.6 then it is time to clean...so for around $30 you can insure yourself a clean sensor filter and not have to wait on a camera that has gone out to be cleaned.

Art Scott

A great series ......really hate to see such a site but it happens.......

Harryb

Sad event, expertly captured. The second set are a definite improvement.

SeaSurfnBird

Art Scott wrote: »

I really like the Copper Hill cleaning method......easy peasy ......as to see just how dirty your sensor is...shooting any bright colored flat object should work at say F22.....ISO 100 or 200...or lower.....whatever lowest native iso
personally I just just noon day sky....bright blue no clouds.......then look at them closely....

The CopperHill kit gives you enuff of everything for over a years worth of cleaning, at least for me....I just learned to not shoot at very small apertures......when I see the yuck showing up I just enlarge my aperture until it no long shows.....when I get to around F5.6 then it is time to clean...so for around $30 you can insure yourself a clean sensor filter and not have to wait on a camera that has gone out to be cleaned.

Thanks Art! Thanks for the method. I am going to buy it and now I need to find a clean room!