How long will this tree hold my weight?

[Jamie Douglas]

I found this black bear a good 20ft up this rosebud tree (not sure what species of tree to be exact) on Monday morning. I had visions of recreating an image very similar to Paul Nicklen's famous spirit bear nat geo cover :).

Looks to a 3-4 year old bear and not that big for this time of year. He is clearly burning too many calories balancing himself in these bushes and I have no idea how those small branches held it's weight.

Camera Techs | Canon 1DIV |500mm F4 II | F6.3 | 1/500 | ISO400 | Handheld - In hindsight I should have added the 1.4x and taken a monopod along but I was on my mtn bike and didn't pack enough gear.

Not as sharp as I would have liked and I may tighten the crop from the RHS. WDYT?

Cheers

Jamie

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jamie, for me, it works, as it's more 'behavioural' rather than 'portrait'. You handled the light well and good timing on the action, like the paw holding the branch and mouth open with the grasping tongue.

TFS
Steve

Might just reduce the © as it's a bit big. :w3

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jamie - looks like the light was a bit harsh but you handled it well. As Steve said, this is all about the behavior and it works. Nice choice on the dof to have the berries in front of the bear and the bear in focus.

TFS,
Rachel

[Stan Cunningham]

Agree with the above. But if it were mine I might try a vertical crop tighter on the bear turning it into a portrait but still accenting the behavior of eating.
I'm also still trying to figure out how you ride a bike with a 500 F4?

[Jamie Douglas]

I'm also still trying to figure out how you ride a bike with a 500 F4?

With great care Stan. It fits in a standard non photo gear backpack with a pillow which I add to reduce the vibration. The trails are flat in the area so nothing hardcore.

Thanks Steve and Rachel. © is a work in progress, got bored of the last ©

Cheers

Jamie

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Jamie,

this is a great image of this bear. I really wonder how the branches could hold him :bg3:
For me it looks fine as it is :S3:

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[edwardselfe]

Nice colours and details - hard to unclutter the image when there's so many branches everywhere but I like what you've managed to do. Interesting behavioural shot but probably not a winner as a portrait. Also think it might work as a portrait orientation.
Ed

[Jamie Douglas]

Thanks Edward and Anette. I tried a few portrait comps but I was pretty restricted in my vantage point so couldn't frame the image well enough to avoid it being too tight as a portrait. My goal was behavioural rather than portrait. The goal for my photography this year was to get more in my images in terms of behaviour so I am happy enough this works even though the harsh light bugs me.

Hopefully he is up the tree again today.

I've seen bears fall out of trees before :0

Jamie

[Morkel Erasmus]

On a mountain bike, of all things :5
Lovely behaviour and exposure control Jamie. 50/50 on the comp...would perhaps take some off the LHS, even if it makes it more "square"...
You did well with all those distracting branches around.

[Jamie Douglas]

On a mountain bike, of all things :5
Lovely behaviour and exposure control Jamie. 50/50 on the comp...would perhaps take some off the LHS, even if it makes it more "square"...
You did well with all those distracting branches around.

Photography is all about sitting and waiting so I found a way to burn some calories at the same time :S3:

I experimented with a few crops with slightly more off the LHS and do feel it does help to balance the image so thanks for weighing in with your thoughts Morkel.