What has a bear gotta do for some peace around here?

[Jamie Douglas]

Hello folks. I hope you are all enjoying the start to 2014 :5. I've been a little quiet recently preoccupied with a few things (xbox one :e3 and my kid... yes in that order LOL) and feeling a little down in the dumps after a few lacklustre camera trips recently (feel sorry for me, go on please) :)))))

Photographing bears round these parts is never an easy task. Combine dreary weather with boat access and well lets just say disappointment is a common emotion at the end of a morning.

I am never one to give up and will always push my gear and myself to maximize the situation and try and come away with a few keepers. Maybe not award winners or wall hangers, but valuable lessons learned images that will only make me stronger next time... and there will always be a next time.

This bear had spent what seemed like an eternity with his head buried amongst the rocks slurping up clam chowder before he finally took a breather and discovered a boat full of poised photographers behind him.

Techs | Canon 1D Mark IV| 500mm F4 II | F4 | 1/400 | ISO3200 | -2/3 | AV Mode - I gotta get my hands on a 200-400 next time or maybe just a full frame camera as this could go a little wider in my opinion.

Steve, I hope you are in bed resting in preparation for a spot of gallivanting tomorrow. See you bright and early and bring a tumbler for a few wee drams of that duty free you brought.

Cheers

Jamie

[Jonathan Ashton]

Nice pose and excellent detail in the fur. I wish I could get results at ISO 3200. I am guessing this is a full frame pic from what you said, I wonder if a tad less sharpening would reduce the (not objectionable) noise?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jamie - Welcome back. Hopefully you'll have better luck on your outing today than on your other recent ones. This looks very good, especially for ISO 3200. Great job on the exp of the blacks and the detail on the bear. While a little more room all around might have improved it, this works. Only thing I would do differently is to reduce the sharpening of the rocks, especially those below the head of the bear. Nice one overall.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jamie, now if we can find this guy then great, but guess the 2hr ferry and 5 hour drive over the other side of the island is not on our itinerary :bg3:

I like the low POV, I'm a sucker for this, plus the head turn back, but not so keen to see the more dominant rear in frame. Like the techs, good to see you pushing it, but hopefully I can facilitate your wish for both lens & 1DX. Personally the sharpening for is is not a deal breaker, but adding a Graduate filter at the foot and perhaps some mid tone/Lumin adj layer on the LHS may help?

Great to have you back and post a lovely subject, I really do need to get over there and see Mike.

See you soon, well quite literally.

TFS
Steve

[Ashleigh Scully]

HI, great detail in the black fur and I like that you included the water in the foreground. Everything looks really good. I agree with Rachel that maybe you do selective sharpening on only the bear and not the rocks. Only because she noticed the rock by the bear's head did I, too. What a beautiful animal thanks for sharing it :)

[Jamie Douglas]

It's nice to be back if it is only momentarily as I don't have a surplus of images to share sadly for the time being. Hoping that will change of course and I'll keep drawing on the archives for now.

Cheers for the feedback and honest comments. I was just reading one of the threads Steve started about how the mods can help more and I think it really just comes down to the fact we need to leave egos at the door in forums and just be open to the feedback even if you don't always agree.

I agree with all the points raised here so thank you. This is a slight crop as I needed to straighten the image which sadly compromised room around the subject - not sure what I can retrieve but I'll take a look at my PSD file (balancing on a boat handholding a 500mm lens and trying to command the skipper isn't an easy task :). The sharpening can be easily addressed so thanks for being honest about that and I'll likely go back to LR again and double process an additional RAW file to help improve the lighter areas. I wasn't completely satisfied with the light portions.

Steve, I think a full frame body is the ticket for next time I venture out to visit the bears. Although I now know a 200-400 and 1Dx would be deadly thanks to our day out on Friday (by deadly I mean Janice would likely bury me if I turned around and said I need more gear). Some opinions are best kept quiet from the other half.

Cheers

Jamie

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jamie, the kit you have is good, however I do think your next bit of kit should be another body & ditch the 7D, however you may have other 'expenses' in the future pipeline, so just park things. I do feel what you have may only need a couple of simple tweaks just to take it up a notch.

Hope the family got out today and the 'head' is feeling better, cousin Eddie will see you in a few weeks time. :w3

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi Jamie, the kit you have is good, however I do think your next bit of kit should be another body & ditch the 7D, however you may have other 'expenses' in the future pipeline, so just park things. I do feel what you have may only need a couple of simple tweaks just to take it up a notch.

Hope the family got out today and the 'head' is feeling better, cousin Eddie will see you in a few weeks time. :w3

Don't get wrong, I have no complaints about my kit and or with the 7D when the light it good. It was a feeling comparable to say when you have a Porsche 911 and a friend turns up in a Ferrari 458:)

Yep we got out this morning for a wander around the forest but no snowshoeing this weekend as the snow is a little deep on the local mtn roads and I don't want someone crashing into me.

Head is better, thanks for making that public lol :tinysmile_shy_t:.

Enjoy the slopes and see you in March - we must take a minute to pay our respects to Todd.

[Ian Cassell]

I like this one, Jamie, and even more since it's at high ISO -- I can't get away with that with my kit. Personally, I don't think it is too tight ... I like the big bear in the frame.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Jamie,

I like this image very much. I did not see anyone mentioning the blue cast in the bear. Give it a try to remove the blue cast in the bear and it looks great. Love it what you done done with ISO 3200 :bg3:

Have a great week

Ciao
Anette

[Morkel Erasmus]

hey Jamie! good to see you posting again...
this is the best-looking in terms of IQ and processing of your high ISO bear shots I've seen (in fact, it looks better than your low ISO bear shots) :5 :cheers:
lovely detail, setting, pose and handling during processing
I hope you and Steve got some crackers!

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jamie,
very good IQ for the high ISO , specially in the bear.
Like the overall colors and depth of the image, but agree about the sharpening inn the rocks and the blue cast in the bear as per Anette.
Nice look back even if the butt is looking , too. LOL.

Hey Jamie did you process this one on the Xbox , or why does this look better than the other black bear shots……?

TFS Andreas

[Jamie Douglas]

Thanks the recent comments Ian, Anette, Morkel, and Andreas.

Firstly, congrats Anette for your image of the year :5 and I am sure we will no doubt see that image crop up again in other comps.

As for the blue cast. As posted is very close to the actual colour of the bear and what I might have missed is a little colour noise that i can take a look at again. The bear was not jet black but not blue either, although there is a sub species of black bear that is known to be blue/black in colour. Let me take another look. Cheers.

this is the best-looking in terms of IQ and processing of your high ISO bear shots I've seen (in fact, it looks better than your low ISO bear shots) :5 :cheers:

Cheers Morkel, and I agree re your comments about comparing it to my other images. Maybe it's a mixture of PS skills slowly improving and the 500mm optics.


Hey Jamie did you process this one on the Xbox , or why does this look better than the other black bear shots……? TFS Andreas

Hahaha Andreas, I don't think the Xbox runs PS though I should check :t3. I've been mostly playing racing car games and ignoring a massive backlog of family photos to be honest.

I think the image IQ comes down to me being more patient with the editing process based on what I've learned through Steve and everyone else in this forum. I am big fan of a local photographer called Brad Hill and the feedback he gave me a year back on processing high ISO images was to be careful in PS that you don't make the image look flat by over editing it. I know what he means but cant put it in words myself, check his work out at http://www.naturalart.ca/

[Anette Mossbacher]

HI Jamie,

thank you very much. About the blue cast. You know it better than I do, never have seen such a bear in the wild, I like the image more without the blue cast. This is just my taste thing and my not knowledge about those bears :bg3:

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Morkel Erasmus]

Silly me - shows you I didn't read the OP text properly - that new glass surely has had an effect but also I believe your PP has improved greatly Jamie. :5
cheers

[Jamie Douglas]

Silly me - shows you I didn't read the OP text properly - that new glass surely has had an effect but also I believe your PP has improved greatly Jamie. :5
cheers

Cheers Morkel re your PP comments. Means a lot thank you :5