May I Have This Grapple?

[Arthur Morris]

These play-fighting coastal Brown Bears were photographed with the Canon 400mm f/4 IS DO lens and the EOS-1D MIII. ISO 1600. Evaluative metering +2/3 stop: 1/200 sec. at f/4. 45-Point AAFPS.

I carefully added a bit of canvas above.

Don't be shy; all comments welcome.

[Steve Canuel]

Really like the colors/habitat, love the look on the face of the bear on the left. Nice job on the canvas up top.

[Tell Dickinson]

"Does my breath smell" ? Nice interaction Art and I like the fact that you can see one of the Bears teeth. Wonder what a vertical (Portrait) crop would be like ?

Tell

[David Fletcher]

Like the action and framing here. Not sure if I am seeing flies or rain spats, but either way, they add.

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hey Artie, looks like you had yet another succesful trip! Pretty cool action you got. Now those are REAL bear hugs!! Although I probably wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't mentioned adding canvas above, I do seem to notice some repeating patterns - most noticeable in ULC and URC...

[Phil Ertel]

Nice action you captured. I like the centered presentation. I did not notice it at first but after reading your comments I looked a bit closer at the background. There are a couple of spots that I think I see repeat patterns (especially behind the left bears head). It wouldn't take too much work to disguise those spots and would worth the effort as I like the bears and their interaction very much. Thanks for sharing.

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks all for stopping by. The ORIG is posted here.

ps: I knew that I should have kept my mouth shut :) :D :)
Only kidding.

pps: It looks as if some 80% Clone Stamp work could have reduced the repeating patterns a bit more.

[Arthur Morris]

"Does my breath smell" ? Nice interaction Art and I like the fact that you can see one of the Bears teeth. Wonder what a vertical (Portrait) crop would be like ? Tell

Hi Tell, I went back and forth between HORZ and VERT.... At times, the bears were on the ground facing each other (as in this image) and at times they were standing up. It was hard to fit them in a VERT frame so I wound up going HORZ most of the time....

[Simon Bennett]

Wonderful action.

[Tell Dickinson]

http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=49332&stc=1&d=1252699611

I liked the first Art, but I like this one even more, each bear is almost a mirror image of the other :)

Tell

[DanWalters]

Great shot. I like the first image posted. You can see the eyes better, especially the bear on the right.

[kevinmat]

Great captures Artie, like them both, though for me the first is the stronger, the aggression on the face of the bear on the right makes this come alive.

[Arthur Morris]

It was funny. We had this situation twice, once backlit. It is as exciting as can be and you pretty much fill the buffer but when you look at the images you are very disappointed with most of the poses....

[Harshad Barve]

these are fantastic image(s) Guruji , loved the interactions,
TFS

[Jasper Doest]

Nice action....I like the first best...but it looks really flat...if I were you I'd darken your midtones to get a more powerful photograph.