Brown bear (Ursus arctos)

[Jonathan Ashton]

Taken from a hide in Finland, I think .....at last maybe just maybe the colours aren't too bad????
Canon EOS-1D X
Lens focal length : 500 mm
Exposure mode : Manual exposure
ISO Sensitivity : 16,000
Exposure compensation : +0.3 EV
Shutter : 1/800 sec
Aperture : F4

ACR/TopazDNAI/PSCC

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ... this one is looking like a " real Bear " !!!
Super cool specimen !
Comp and pose is nice , as is the clear view and the almost clean backdrop .

Just like to raise a question ... why so dark overall ??
And you seem to like all those blues / magentas and reds ....??

Nice one , TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jon ... this one is looking like a " real Bear " !!!
Super cool specimen !
Comp and pose is nice , as is the clear view and the almost clean backdrop .

Just like to raise a question ... why so dark overall ??
And you seem to like all those blues / magentas and reds ....??

Nice one , TFS Andreas


It dooesn't look dark to me - it was very dull (ISO 16,000) blues magentas reds? Looks ok to me ????

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Jon,
Very nice capture of this bear and pretty well framed too:w3 I also like the background and surrounding vegetation.
Agree with Andreas, frame a tad dark and some blue and magenta casts. Love the pose and intent in those eyes as well as open mouth.
Enjoyed viewing, thank you for sharing:S3:

PS. Apologies for my absence, having a hectic time at work and lots of challenges. Really missing the Wildlife Forum and the thrill of sharing new images:tinysmile_shy_t:

Warmest regards,

[Andreas Liedmann]

Fine Jon ...
Must be my taste and my screen .

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Jon. menacing looking bear. I like the image a lot, very nice setting. For ISO 16,000 this is outstanding. Thank you for sharing.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Andreas, after consideration I can see what you are going on about but I still think the colours are not far out, it was almost freezing and somewhere between 1am and 4am.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hey Jon .... all ok for me .
It is your view about the color , I see it differently .... and most important it is your image and you have to like it in the first place , regardless what others think !!!!!!!
Give me a minute or 5 ... I will post my color view .....

[Andreas Liedmann]

Here you go .... hope you do not mind

[Jonathan Ashton]

I don't mind at all, I think your version is a big improvement, I was happy with mine compared to previous efforts but yours really does look much better........... hey - give me some clues - what did you do? Based on what I think you may have done I have made a repost.... but I think yours is better.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Ok good Jon ... surprised that you now " accept " the colors :bg3:.
Not saying that I´m " correct" with my edits ... as colors can be a matter of taste in general .

For your info , I have used three adjustment layers
1. brightness contrast with 10+ brightness ( inverted red channel as lumo mask)
2 . curves adjustment layer with edited red and blue channel ( color blend mode ) , set two color pickers in the bear ( breast and flank ) and neutralized these two point samples ( 5x5 pix)
3. Hue / saturation adjustment layer .... desaturated the blues/cyan/ greens ( forgot the values ) , changed the hues of red and yellow

Done

Cheers Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Ok good Jon ... surprised that you now " accept " the colors :bg3:.
Not saying that I´m " correct" with my edits ... as colors can be a matter of taste in general .

For your info , I have used three adjustment layers
1. brightness contrast with 10+ brightness ( inverted red channel as lumo mask)
2 . curves adjustment layer with edited red and blue channel ( color blend mode ) , set two color pickers in the bear ( breast and flank ) and neutralized these two point samples ( 5x5 pix)
3. Hue / saturation adjustment layer .... desaturated the blues/cyan/ greens ( forgot the values ) , changed the hues of red and yellow

Done

Cheers Andreas

Don't be surprised, I thought I was correct but you made me reflect and I was wrong - simple as that!
What you did sounds rather sophisticated compared to what I did but I will try to work out in practical terms, it obviously worked rather welll!
I have been playing with TK and masking masks and such like, I think I am learning a little more- you have given me something to think about, also I have recently been experimenting with curves and channels.
Good dialogue - thank you much appreciated.
Just as a separate topic - why do I not see any submissions from you in the macro forum? I am sure you must have done some albeit with the zoom and TC??

[Andreas Liedmann]

Jon ... nothing for the macro world , sorry .

For you it might sound sophisticated , it's not quiet simple actually .

Basically it is placing color picker points on two or three in the image that should be somehow neutral or close to neutral .... add a curves adjustment layer ( color blend mode ) . Use the hand tool inside of the curves panel , choose the desired color channel (i.e.blue) in the panel , go with the hand tool over the desired color picker point , klick and drag the point ( while controlling the color values ) into the right direction to neutralize the colors . Do the same thing with another channel ( if needed ) in the same curve adjustment layer . Done !!!

[kevin Hice]

Beautiful capture I did notice a prominent blue cast at first and was ok with it. After looking at Andreas a definite improvement and more realistic and reading the dialogue maybe I learned something. Great at ISO 16,000 TFS a great capture.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Jon -- very late on this, but I really liked the subject . Looks massive and strong.

Nice discussion above. I can see a lot of colour cast of blue and magenta in your OP but Andreas RP sorts out the issues.

Keep them coming.

TFS !