A Little Bear Behind

[Ken Hadfield]

This little chap was captured at Yellowstone Bear World in Idaho. These orphaned bears are placed in a natural compound until they can be released to the wild. The bear played around with his pals for a while before climbing up a branch and then neatly swung round to show his rear end to the crowd. When he swung his head below and peered back at us I captured this sweet pose which has been very successful at competition level.

I am particularly proud of this image as it is the first photograph that has ever been paid/published for me and today is the publication date for the UK Times and Telegraph newspapers

Bursting with pride so wanted to share with the members here

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Ken a cute look to the image indeed. I know when new trying to remember everything and configure set ups for posting is never easy, but if you can add the EXIF data that would be good, I've added it here for you. :w3

Canon MKIV 70-200f/2.8 1/400sec f/6.3 ISO250 EV 0 comp

I quite like the comp, but I think if you have it, a fraction more below would balance the image overall for me. Having the beam at an angle certainly adds more interest, and helps bolster the composition. As I'm away, I can't be too specific, however the image does look light, especially in the body fur, did you lighten it? To me, it should be a nice, rich, dense, black? The logs also look thin, lacking some clarity and depth/detail, it just looks flat so to speak. There are some traces in the white background above the cub which maybe giving the colouration around the fur as I think the EV comp is at zero, so I doubt if it's any CA (colour aberrations) creeping in, did you clean this up? I would also suggest trying to tame some of the brighter highlights along the top part of the beam.

Based on this I think there is a lot more that can be extracted from the original, it's just needs a little more coaxing out to take it to the next stage, I assume you shoot RAW Ken?

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Ken - Welcome and congrats on the publication! Huge cuteness factor here and the pose is great. As always, Steve's observations and suggestions will improve an already excellent image.

TFS,
Rachel

[Ken Hadfield]

Thanks Steve and Rachel. Your advice is the reason I joined the forum. I am the first to admit my post production needs some tuning and these valid observations will help me to make better images

Regards

Ken

[Steve Kaluski]

A good philosophy Ken and your photography will grow quickly with this attitude. I'm not back until next Wed/Thurs, however if you want to fwd the RAW whereupon I could give you some pointers, happy to do so. Post Production is best kept simple and get to know the basics, then you can expand. A lot is all about getting it 'right in camera' with minimal PP, in that way your images and the IQ will be kept to it's best.

[Ken Hadfield]

OK Steve. Will send it on in the next few days. Wish I had done this before publication!

[Gabriela Plesea]

A warm welcome to BPN, Ken! Cute factor number 10, and indeed this is a money shot, congratulations! Looking forward to a repost with Steve's suggestions...And also, to more images from you:wave:

Kind regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Ken, send it via Dropbox.com will PM my email address to you.

[jack williamson]

Congratulations Ken, this is worthy of publication. Brought a smile to my face.

Jack

[Morkel Erasmus]

Congrats on the publication, Ken! Very cute moment here.
I'd be keen to see Steve's repost from the RAW as I agree with his assessment (there's more to get out of this one).
Personally I like the tight composition in this case as it draws me to the head peeping through.
Looking forward to more of your images, and also your participation in the threads posted by others - that way we all learn :5

[Jamie Douglas]

Awesome Photo Ken and welcome to BPN. I grew up not too far from you in Hexham.

[Anette Mossbacher]

What a funny image ken. You got already great suggestions above. Congrats for your first publication :bg3: