Stare Down

[Rachel Hollander]

I was happy to have this adult look up while foraging and in good light.

Canon 5D3
100-400 II @ 400mm
1/1500
f5.6
ISO 800
HH while crouching down, slight crop for comp, shot vertical, levels, curves, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[John Mack]

Like the direct eye contact and the grasses here the light is nice as well.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Rachel, good call on the vertical comp in the field and crouching down. He looks huge and powerful. Good eye contact and nice light.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Magic love it, great pose super eye contact. Just looking at the techs I guess you couldn't have been very far away - was your heart a pumpin' fast!!
(Just for info - like as presented but I did a curves and set to luminosity and lowered the highlights a little.)

[Mike Hitchen]

That is one big bear! Great eye contact and so sharply focussed where it matters.
I'm just wondering if you could reduce the yellow a wee bit.

[keith mitchell]

Rachel another vote for the vertical it works for me,it all looks very good to me especially it's nice damp nose.

Keith.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, I know how good these kind of encounters can be and very memorable too. Like my PB image, I feel he was crossing your line of POV, but perhaps shutter noise caught his attention, as having a sliver more to the LHS may have helped, to continue to walk into? Techs look good and DOF looks spot on, but lying down, being lower than the Bear may have provided a more interesting POV, highlighting/generating more of the eye contact and perhaps lost the brown line of what may have been water channel to? The light appears to have been on your side, creating lovely soft light, although the image does have the 'look' of a Luminosity adjustment, but it's probably just the overall colouring.

Having half the FG grass is another option.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I'll take a look at the suggestions. Steve - lying down did not really work in the grass fields. There were too many taller blades of grass constantly getting in the way that one needed to shoot over and too much wet muck to completely sink into.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel a very nice head on shot with a stunning eye contact ....looks very nice !!!
I agree with you about going lower ....the sedges might have been a distraction .
Good detail and the soft light works well ....how about a bit more tone to 1/4 tones and HL as Jon suggested ?

I bet a great feeling having this guy looking at you and your fellows .

TFS Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andreas, much appreciated. Btw I am pretty sure this was one of the sows with cubs.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Glenn Pure]

The first thing I thought when I saw this is 'what a menacing stare'. Nevertheless, a wonderful shot executed with great skill.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Glenn :wave:

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Rachel,
The first thought that came to mind when I opened this thumbnail was "what wonderful detail":cheers:. I also liked the vertical composition here as it instantly drew me in. The POV cooperates with the threatening pose from the subject, her intentions I cannot quite tell but it looks like a warning of sorts? It must have been quite exciting, getting close and making eye contact!

Super techs Rachel, and good thinking on DoF. Once again, abandoning the "usual perspective" a good idea in this instance and in terms of PP work I like this frame as presented.

On a more personal level, I had a very difficult day today but really there is no better source of relief for me than coming upon images like this. Your bear image reminds me of the diversity of life on the planet and the wonders of the world before us, which us humans should fiercely protect. Please forgive my pessimism, but the news of having lost more rhino in one of the nearby Parks dampened my enthusiasm tonight. Unfortunately in my country some have eyes but see not, and hearts that neither feel, nor care.

Thank you so much for sharing,

Kindest regards,