Lunch in the Jacuzzi (another "Brooks" bear)

[Tim Rucci]

Here's another image from Brooks Falls where the swirling water and bubbles reminds me of a jacuzzi. I found it tough to capture good detail in some of these images, especially when the bear was more distant and the mist seemed to play more of a part. This is basically a full frame image, with just a slight amount cropped from the top and left.

Details: Canon 1D Mk2N, 300L f2.8 IS lens and 1.4x extender (420mm), 1/1600 at f4, iso 400, tripod mounted.

[Katie Rupp]

Hey Tim, I love everything about this one beginning with the ever so appropriate title; the over-the-shoulder pose, the bright, detailed red salmon and the way you captured the water movement. I need to go there next year!

[Hilary Hann]

Great pose and composition. I find the IQ not fantastic on my monitor but given the issues you had to deal with I suppose that accounts for it.

[Don Railton]

Hi Tim

I agree with all of the above, lovely colours and composition but the IQ seems not quite right. Maybe a bit tight at the top?

TFS
DON

[stuart wanuck]

like it but think maybe noise in water?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Tim, having been to Brooks this year I think the issue maybe that some blue was introduced, particularly in the water which seemed to me to actually have a more gray or green cast to it. I like the action and the pose.

TFS,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

Great open mouth, wide eyed pose here Tim, with all those bubbles really enhancing!
TFS

[Tim Rucci]

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments and suggestions. A few explanations are probably in order.... In the original raw image, the bear was somewhat underexposed and the water overexposed. In some shots at the falls, this was unavoidable at certain times when the bears were in the shadows (we had amost no sun). This one is a good example of that. But since I liked the pose, I tried to salvage it by processing the raw file once for the water and then again for the bear and combining the two before doing some final tweaking. For Rachel... when I toned down the brightness of the water, the blues came out and I liked the effect, so I kept it. Initially there was only a hint of blue with the water as it was originally exposed. For Hilary... admittedly the IQ was not quite up to the normal level I strive for, probably due at least partially to the manipulation I did to try and make the image usable. I may have also missed slightly on the focus because to me the fish looks sharper than the bear, although it's difficult to tell with the bear soaking wet. Some noise reduction during conversion probably accounts for at least some of the muddy look in the fur of the bear. For Don... on second look, I think you may be right that I should not have cropped the top. I was trying to emphasize the foreground water when I did that.
My first thought was to trash this image but I liked the composition so I tried to salvage it, and this is what I came up with.

[Robert Amoruso]

I feel you pain with the dynamic range issue of water to bear.

I am working on a posting for the Education Forum on how I have been addressing that my past two years photographing bears. Look for it.

[Hilary Hann]

Thanks Tim, photographing in the field certainly throws us challenges.

[Andrew Aveley]

a superb moment and the detail and results are great. I really like the colours in the salmon and the water.