Polar Bear on Ice

[Rachel Hollander]

Since Steve is still away and not around to post a polar bear for this month's theme, I thought I would do so and add a little diversity to the species posted. It's IUCN Red List Status is listed as Vulnerable. Taken in Svalbard in August 2013.

Canon 5D3
300 II plus 2x III
1/2000
f5.6
ISO 800
Monopod from moving boat, cropped slightly from right and above, luminosity mask, levels, curves, selective color and burning adjustments, sharpened in CCPS.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Rachel, we are missing Steve and yes even a polar bear! So thanks for posting a PB image!! They are such magnificent animals, hope to see them in real life sometime soon. The image works well with nice soft light and good pose and HA. The detail and whites look great. Nice techs as usual. TFS.

[Loi Nguyen]

I'm envious of you to have seen such magnificent animal. White on white with perfect exposure to separate the warmer PB's fur against the cooler ice. Not an easy comp on this one with the PB in the middle of the frame, you made the best of it. Loi

[haseeb badar]

Hi Rachel -- how beautifully done, the way you handle whites is amazing , always a thing or two to learn from your posts . loved the framing and IQ is very good. TFS !

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Sanjeev, Loi and Haseeb for the very kind comments. I'm glad you like this one. Loi - I agree about the central position but this was one where it was moving from left to right so I had more room on the right when it turned to look at the boat for a second. It looked unbalanced with more on the right than the left so I cropped a small amount to give it the more central and balanced placement.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel i really like this frame on all counts from the technical POV :cheers:. Very well processed with great color/tone and detail . It is just the crop i am not 100 % happy with , the PB is a bit too centered fro my taste :S3:. Easy fix if you like .
Very nice work Rachel :wave:, TFS Andreas

[Katie Rupp]

Just beautiful, Rachel. I'm with the comments regarding your expert handling of the whites to keep the blue of the ice and warmer white of the PB. I understand your reasoning for the crop and it works for me.

Cheers

Katie

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andreas and Katie, much appreciated.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Beautiful and well exposed and oh-so-many-nuances-of-white, Rachel!

I too am envious of this one, there's something so magnificent about this species and I would love to at least see a Polar Bear with my own eyes...

Love the detail in the fur and I detect some traces of blood there from the last kill, this is nice and sharp where it counts and the IQ is great, mmm... I am turning green with jealousy:tinysmile_shy_t:

Great PP work as expected, stunning work Rachel and I enjoyed viewing (great to be back, had some Internet issues tonight but it is all sorted now)

Warmest regards,

[Steve Kaluski]

Since Steve is still away and not around to post a polar bear for this month's theme, I thought I would do so and add a little diversity to the species posted.

I'll address that for you, although I have only just started to look at them :w3.

The pack ice really conveys nicely the location and the blue of the water, with the hint of aqua is a nice touch. Detail within the pack ice I feel is personal choice and how far you take it. POV works as it doesn't indicate shooting down and i like the body angle.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Gabriela and Steve. Welcome back!

[Andre Pretorius]

Hi Rachel

Agree with above on the correct exposure. Would like a bit more detail in the darks, but by lifting the exposure one would cook the whites- always find it very difficult with a subject that has
both whites and darks. By shooting ETTR I often blow the HL, try and use different EV if no time to check on Histogram.
What mode were you shooting with, and did you use any - or + EV?

For me the comp works.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andre. I almost always shoot in full manual mode and try to ETTR. This was no exception. Unfortunately, with the 5D3 I cannot tell afterwards how much EC resulted from my settings. I think for Canon only the 1DX retains that info in the EXIF if shooting manual.

Thanks again,
Rachel