Bear in the Woods

These Cades Cove bears are always a challenge to shoot. Besides the obvious fear that you might appear as a dinner treat (not very likely), low light and constant movement usually results in more misses than hits, at least for me. He was about 3 years old and somewhere around 175 lbs. He would later bluff charge a point-n-shooter for getting a bit too close. The acorns and walnuts were a bumper crop this year, and he was eagerly digging through the fall leaves for food. He looked up for an instant for the shot.

I used PS Oil Paint, removed a distracting tree, and cropped. Hope you like him...............

Jay, I love him!! What a great shot. And I love the oil paint effect, although I think it looks a little too "chrome" looking in the background. Maybe you could blur the bg a little? Or a slight desaturation?

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Originally Posted by Cheryl Slechta

Jay, I love him!! What a great shot. And I love the oil paint effect, although I think it looks a little too "chrome" looking in the background. Maybe you could blur the bg a little? Or a slight desaturation?

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Thanks! Yes.........wasn't sure what to do with BG. I did a blur on it as suggested. There a couple of twigs/lines back there I might clean up later.

Excellent image, Jay! The eye contact and raised paw of the bear really makes the shot for me. I like the painterly effect, and it does look better with the BG blurred.

Great shot. With the background blurred, the processing is nice, too. In addition to toning down the Oil Paint effect, the blurring seems to have given the image a greater feeling of depth. I'm not sure I have a lens long enough to have made me feel comfortable photographing a menacing looking bear with its eyes fixed on me like that.

Repost rocks...well capture with bear looking right at the lens, nice effects...well done

Nice repost Jay! Great job with the Oil Paint Filter. A great looking subject!

Jay, the repost is perfect:S3:

Ditto the above comments! The original capture is superb and the repost is spot-on!

Thanks everyone..........Good feedback on the background, Cheryl.

This is outstanding! I love the look and the pose with lifted paw! The fallen leaves and touch of green adds a lot to the image. Excellent processing!

I like him a lot and am glad I wasn't there when he "bluff" charged. I think the repost has more depth to it. Your processing is fantastic. Love what it did to the leaves and ferns. Excellent shot with the bear looking at you!