Dinner - Polar bears

[Sid Garige]

A family of polar bears feasting on a whale tongue at Barter Island Bone pile. Dont ask me about the smell.:t3
Photographed from a truck with 580 EX flash in slave mode. .
I did work a bit on reducing steel eyes but not satisfied with results. I left it as it is.


Canon 7D 100-400mm
ISO 1250 F5.6 1/200 flash EV +1

[Marina Scarr]

Sid, you are killing the viewers with your extraordinary images of polar bears!!! Love this one. Great use of flash. I wonder whether you had to work on the bears' eyes at all as a result of the flash?

[Ken Watkins]

Sid,

I can smell it from here, I hope the wind was not too much towards you:bg3:

I am not a great fan of the use of flash on wild animals, but for obvious reasons you had to use it here.

The "catch light" in the eyes is a natural result of the flash and I would imagine trying to cure it would be really difficult given the tiny pinholes that Polar Bears have, but then again removing it could possibly look strange.

All in all a killer pose and situation, just a pity for me that you could not get it in the daylight.

[Sid Garige]

Sid,
I am not a great fan of the use of flash on wild animals, but for obvious reasons you had to use it here.

The "catch light" in the eyes is a natural result of the flash and I would imagine trying to cure it would be really difficult given the tiny pinholes that Polar Bears have, but then again removing it could possibly look strange.

All in all a killer pose and situation, just a pity for me that you could not get it in the daylight.

Ken,
I have to agree with you on the flash usage. Especially at the night time when their eyes are used to dark surrounding, flash can cause some trouble. I thought about it after few frames and decided to stop.
Females with cubs tend to feed at night time to avoid confrontations with mature males.

-Sid

[Sid Garige]

I wonder whether you had to work on the bears' eyes at all as a result of the flash?

Marina,

Thanks.

This is straight out of camera. With out any eye work. I tried to fix it in post processing but not was happy with the results.

-Sid

[Tom Redd]

Sid, thank you for another Polar Bear shot, my addiction to these was needing a fix and you provided it. Thanks! Interesting shot and I am sure the truck had doors for protection. While interesting, I really love all the previous posts more but this gives us another view. Thanks again.

[Steve Canuel]

Looks delicious. Kind of a neat contrast between the white bears and the dark, endless BG.

[dankearl]

Sid, I haVe really enjoyed these photos, but this one does not do it for me.
It seems intrusive with the flash (although I use it with birds, so maybe I am hypocritical?).
I just think the natural light photos are so good, this one just seems to be lacking compared
To all the others.
That said, It is still a once in a lifetime photo for most of us.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Very nice moment, I do prefer the day time images but this is still nice. I have been around dead Buffalo, dead Giraffe, dead Hippo and dead Elephant the latter 2 I would imagine the only thing that may compare in stink to this.

[Rachel Hollander]

Having experienced the smell of whale spray which itself is pretty bad, I can only how imagine how horrible the smell was. I too prefer the daytime images because this unfortunately does have a feel of having disturbed the bears to it.

I hope you still have more to share because I too have become addicted and need a bear fix each morning. You'll have to wean us slowly.

TFS,
Rachel

[Roger Clark]

Hi Sid,,

I think the flash worked well, and the 3 looking at the camera is priceless. The catchlight is fine in my view (at least it is not red-eye).
Did you use a better beamer or equivalent, and how far off camera was the flash?

Well done. Nice composition and I like the black sky above for the mood.

Roger

[Paul Taylor]

I think it really complements the other fabulous shots you've posted recently. It's a comical picture to me - they look like politicians emerging from a hotel room with a young lady to find a battery of paparazzi waiting with their cameras. Very good flash work in the field. and a secret bear moment revealed too. Lots going for it and somehow the steel-eye adds to the humour, and if you're okay for it to be a shot to bring a smile, I'd leave it.

You know you could post this on Facebook and it'd go viral with the "funny animals" crowd, or it would be an absolutely perfect picture to head an article discussing the ethics of flash photography with wildlife at night. And in either context it is a great picture.

[Stu Bowie]

Great eye contact from all three Sid, and placing them centrally was the only way to go. The bears stand out so well against the darker BG.

[Andrew Merwin]

Sid, your PB images are the best I have ever seen. This is another unsurpassed image. I really like the right PB's raised left paw. TFS these remarkable images.

[Harshad Barve]

Sid, I have really enjoyed these photos, but this one does not do it for me.


Sid , same thoughts here , I hope you don't mind for this comment :w3
TFS

[Charles Glatzer]

You had quite a trip my friend. Keep'em coming, fantastic series.

Chas in the Arctic

[Phillip Tomkinson]

Hi a very nice image I am not so keen on the flash look in the eyes.

Phil.

:S3: