Polar Bear in front of glacier

[Anette Mossbacher]

Happy New Year to everyone. Hope you all have started it in a great way.

This polar bear was walking along a little island in front of the Nordenskiold Glacier in Svalbard. While working in Svalbard for 3 weeks for a client, I was also sent off to the wilderness in a little cabin to get what I could get of Svalbard! However, I was fortunate that I found this polar bear early morning when I just had my cup of coffee ready to drink. That coffee I forgot right away! Running outside and setting all up, freezing behind off, but got some good images, which I 'now' can happily post.

This chap did not much, it seemed more that he must been a close friend to our dog!!!! He sniffed more than an hour long around on the island. I think he did not miss one spot! But he never lifted his leg!

LR the usual process I do with a tad more for HL in glacier behind. PS Level, Midtones and normal sharpening. Animal 100% BG & rocks just 40%.

1DX
ISO 800
f/8
1/640 +0.33
300mm f/2.8 & 2x ext III

Have a great weekend

Ciao Anette

[Mark Needham]

Hi Anette -- Happy New Year to you too! What a fantastic image here. The scale is amazing with polar bear (a massive animal in its own right) dwarfed by the huge glacier in the BG and rock plateau in the FG. Love the paw-up pose of the bear. Would be great to have some eye contact w/ the bear - do you have any images with eye contact and head up pose? I might be tempted to try darkening the glacier just a tad to make the deep blues "pop" a bit more and bring more separation between the bear and the BG. Regardless, this is an awesome image and sighting. Top-drawer stuff; congrats! :5

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Anette, nice to have you back at last. :w3


I was also sent off to the wilderness in a little cabin to get what I could get of Svalbard!

That's an impressive/independent lady to be on your own, I might have second thoughts, however I assume you had a trusty firearm to hand for 'emergencies' only, or was Arc there a your side to raise the alarm :S3:? I assume you had to ring fence your 'cabin', was this an old trappers hut? Interested to here how did you get on with all that reams of paperwork they issue, as we were visited by the 'Govenor's' boat twice for ours????

I very much like the scale and overall colour here, plus the contrast of rock & glacier, although I feel you can get some more tone & detail from within the glacier itself. Techs look good, but I might have gone to 1600 for more SS without any dip in IQ with that body/lens.

I'll post a closer shot later, as I too was about to post a 'landscape' version in contrast to the Rhino, LOL.

TFS
Steve

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Mark and Steve,

thank you very much for your comments.

Mark to do the glacier a tad darker was in my thoughts and checked out it. For me a tad maybe to much. But will check again. Eye contact, yep I do have. Thanks a lot :bg3:

Steve - cabin is not quite a trapper hut, PM me if you want to have the details. I was not alone, I had a guide along with the rifle (I as well know how to use a rifle, that was a plus) and one tourist. Papers were all done and Satellite phone in use everyday to say all okay to Longyearbyen. The next day after arrival 2 scientist joined us from the Longyearbyen University as well. I had my very strong restrictions how far I could go from the cabin without guide. Between 5-8m without guide around cabin was my radius. The year before they had 4 pb in this area, so my eyes were more looking for the four legged animals and swimming seals, beside lots of landscape and glacier. :w3

Indeed I can get more detail and contrast out of the glacier, it actually has it in the layer files. I took about 50% out of the ice due certain reasons :w3

Getting to 1600 ISO, was not my intention and not needed in this light. The pb was not in a rush at all, never jumping or anything fast doing! This one was more interested to sniff out if our dog was there too and lifted it's leg!!!!!!!! I could have screamed over to tell him to stand up or roll a bit.... guide did not let me lolol. The bear knew that we were there and we did not wanted to get him to our place at all.
And what did bear do on the island....nada :bugeyed:
Next day I spotted him again, this time standing up on an iceberg and within 2min catching a seal. That was something I never thought to see in that area!

Thanks a lot for your comments

Have a great weekend

Ciao Anette

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks Anette for the expanded background good to know.


Getting to 1600 ISO, was not my intention and not needed in this light.

I no longer try to go for lower SS like 1/640 as I find I get better, sharper, cleaner images with higher ISO, but it's all relative I guess, although I did make a few errors with a lower SS at times. :S3:

Say hello to Arc for me.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Good point Steve, so I am fine with 1/640sec :cheers:

In Greenland I went higher in shutter with some things. In Svalbard with the bear I think the lowest was actually 1/640sec. The weather was quite cooperative with lots of sun. Might even have one image with sun and bear showing his behind when sniffing around ... pfffffffffffffffffff

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Anette nice you found the way to the BPN surface , and you have chosen a great frame to show us .
I like all about this frame , showing that really big bear in such great and dramatic environment he does look really small !!!
I like the comp , colors , contrast and overall tones .
I understand what Steve can see in the iceberg ...... i see it too but i think all sits together nicely for the moment :w3 , for sure always room to play a bit more with ALCE !!!

Hope you post more Anette , and thanks for the additional info about the conditions

TFS Andreas

[Marc Mol]

Good to see you posting again Anette,

this is a fabulous PB scape here, the contrasting colours & tones along with the framing all come together nicely here, good advice on the glacier detail, and understand your reasons. :w3

TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Welcome back Anette! You were missed. I absolutely love this (even more than the moon shot):Whoa!:. The colors are great. It shows off the vastness of the environment and gives an idea of how far the bears travel for food. If it were mine I would blow it up big and hang it on the wall. Thanks for also sharing a bit about the experience and conditions.

:cheers:,
Rachel

[Anette Mossbacher]

Thank you very much Andreas, Marc and Rachel.

Andreas will PM you the next 2 days when on PC. :w3

Wish you you all a great weekend

ciao Anette

[haseeb badar]

Hi Anette -- This is a lovely, lovely image !! I like the backdrop of the glacier and the contrasting black rocks . Has a lot of prehistoric feel to this , i totally enjoyed viewing this image .

TFS !

[Anette Mossbacher]

Thank you very much Haseeb, enjoy your weekend:bg3:

[Gabriela Plesea]

Anette! So glad to see you back and posting, welcome back my friend:wave:

Stunning bearscape in sublime surroundings, I am very taken with the grandeur and power of this beautiful land and the way you captured it.

Love the chiseled glacier in the BG and its colours as well as the Polar Bear just a speckle in the frame. Overwhelming and lovely at the same time, your image is proof that Natural forces can create such beauty.
Those rocks make me think of a giant altar... Superb image Anette, this lead me into...what shall I call it? Contemplation:cheers:

Warmest regards,

[keith mitchell]

Anette! the landscape sure does dwarf what is a very large animal, dark rock cool looking iceberg and sniffing Bear all make for a beautiful image .

Keith.

[Anette Mossbacher]

Thank you very much Gabriela and Keith for your time to comment.
Gabriela you should come along up to the north, so breath taking scenery :bg3:

Have a great weekend u 2

ciao Anette

[D. Robert Franz]

Love these types of images and this one is truly special! A location I'd love to visit someday!

[Anette Mossbacher]

Thank you very much Dale for your time to comment and kind words.

Have a great day

Ciao Anette

[Morkel Erasmus]

Welcome back, Anette!
Absolutely love this - proper polar bear shot. Hang it up, like Rachel said!
:5 :cheers:
Best wishes for 2016

[Anette Mossbacher]

Thank you very much.

Wish you as well a great 2016.

I might hang up another image, much better than this one :w3

Have a great evening

Ciao Anette