Bear Beach

[Rachel Hollander]

I think of this as more of a landscape than a wildlife shot. Taken near Brooks Lodge, Katmai National Park, Alaska. The bears often stroll down the shore of Naknek Lake to get to the river. I was on my way to try a few landscapes when this one strolled by and continued down the beach.

Canon 50D
16-35 @ 35mm
1/1600
f 6.3
ISO 640
HH, CPL used, cropped to remove sign.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Dave Mills]

Hi Rachel,The balance of the comp is good but I might have added more to the bottom or eliminated it
Light is everything in photography and in this case the light is very harsh. Using a GND might of helped you to salvage the detail in the clouds and better balance the exposure.

[Roger Clark]

Rachel,
I agree with Dave. If you recorded this as raw, try redoing the conversion with highlight recovery and try and recover the clouds. Or if you have another image with a shorter exposure time. With detail in the clouds, this could be a very nice image. I would have liked the bear approaching the boat. Also, need to bring up the shadows for the bear so it is better seen.

Roger

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Rachel,
Recognize the area well as I have been there a few times myself! Yes, it's more of a record shot but still excellent advice given above......bringing in detail into the clouds will help this a lot! As the sun was working against you in this image.....I don't mind the shadow side of the bear.....but I'm with Dave on the bleached trunks.....cropping to more of a pnao will help the comp too! Bring those clouds in with Rogers recommendation.....crop it.....those tweaks will make this an even stronger image.