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Thread: Morant the missing Grizzly Bear

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    Default Morant the missing Grizzly Bear

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    This is Morant, the missing grizzly bear from the Candian Rockies, Morant and his sister Quill were orphaned last year and Morant has recently gone walk about. The parks folks are not sure where he is, but maybe that is a good thing. They were both hanging around very close to a town which surely would result in disaster for the bears sooner or later.

    I have had a hard time processing these images so hit me with the feedback as I want to get the most out of this series. Conditions were not the best.

    Tell me what you think, colour temp, texture, contrast, sharpness, framing suggestions. I have more room round about. Techs below, sadly I can't change.

    Canon 7D with 70-200 F2.8 IS at F4 (should have been at least 5.6), 1/320, ISO800 rested on beanbag supported by car window. I buggered up the framing so the bear is centered which is less than ideal. The whole experience happened very quickly and the grizz only raised his head twice... not that I am making excuses or anything :)

    June 6th, 2012 at 12:16PM

    Cheers folks

    Jamie


    Last edited by Peter Kes; 10-17-2012 at 01:18 PM.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Jamie - Hope Morant is ok and finds a safe place to bed down for the winter. Nice low pov and detail looks good, especially the eyes. I like the grass in the mouth. Color is difficult to comment on because these bears can vary so much but he looks within the range and the surroundings look good. Only minor issues for me. If it were mine I would probably crop a little from the lhs to move him more off-center, especially with him looking to the right. Finally, maybe a little more NR on the bg. Overall, a really nice image.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Jamie, well I going to ask Janice to hide that 7D, the IQ is interesting when compared to Rudi image at ISO200 take a look, I think there is very little between the two, the MKIV would have been better.

    Overall it's OK, yes a little off the LHS would be good, but it's that coarseness of the bears fur I'm not overwhelmed by, perhaps to much contrast or clarity. Difficult I know when the fur is wet, but I keep thinking is it that combination of ISO & sharpening? Like the HA, posture of the body and low angle, you could just mask a little bit of the vertical tree in the bushes lower down.

    TFS
    Steve
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Hi Jamie,

    Morant looks like a very cool, laid-back bear, chewing on the straw like that! Despite that though, I find he is a really spiky individual - so would mask some of that sharpening on the fur with a low opacity brush. Did you NIK this image? Your post doesn't explain your processing, which would be helpful.

    Let's all hope he has a good winter!

    Gerald

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    Thanks Rachel, Steve and Gerald. I am out of the house at the moment so once I get home later I can let you know about the processing, but no NIK was not used. Maybe I over did the sharpening for web. I do recall that I dropped the contrast in ACR though.

    back with more later

    Jamie

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    Here is a quick repost based on the feedback.

    I chose to concentrate on improving the fur detail and will revist the crop and NR later this week. Limited time at the moment as Janice my wife was at class tonight so I am on parent duties... not a bad thing of course

    Processed in ACR and imported into PS as a smart object so I can always go back to the RAW file at a later date.

    ACR
    Temp 4250
    Tint +24
    Expsosure -0.15
    Contrast -8
    Highlights -80
    Shadows +2
    Whites -58
    Blacks -4
    Clarity +6

    PS
    NR layer - BG only
    Brightness/Contrast Layer
    Levels layer
    Curves layer
    USM layer

    Applied exp adjustment to the FG grass on the repost.

    I ran smart sharpen on the OP and that killed the fur detail.

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Hi Jamie, well I going to ask Janice to hide that 7D, the IQ is interesting when compared to Rudi image at ISO200 take a look, I think there is very little between the two, the MKIV would have been better.

    TFS
    Steve
    Steve, this series of images was pretty much the moment I realised it was time for either a 1D Mark IV or 5D III. I ETTR but maybe it was the lack of DOF/conditions that affected the IQ. A little frustrating as these encounters don't come by all that often.
    Last edited by Jamie Douglas; 10-17-2012 at 12:41 AM.

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Hi Jamie. I hope Morant is still alive and well, as I presume you do too...

    Your repost looks much better ito the fur, but the bear looks a touch darker (less fine detail visible)?
    Sharpening high-ish ISO shots on the 7D is a beast to tame, but it can be done.
    Would you be willing to pop me the RAW file via Dropbox or YouSendit, would love to work with it?
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Quote Originally Posted by Morkel Erasmus View Post
    Hi Jamie. I hope Morant is still alive and well, as I presume you do too...

    Your repost looks much better ito the fur, but the bear looks a touch darker (less fine detail visible)?
    Sharpening high-ish ISO shots on the 7D is a beast to tame, but it can be done.
    Would you be willing to pop me the RAW file via Dropbox or YouSendit, would love to work with it?
    Thanks Morkel and sure, PM me me your email address. I didn't work the repost to the full potential as I wanted to make sure the fur looked better first and then work it to where it should be.

    I'd be very interested to see what you could make of it though.
    Cheers buddy

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Hi Jamie, as per my email, here's my rework from the RAW.
    Feel free to request me to remove it here if you so wish

    Crop: went for a classic ROT placement, with one of the branches in the BG 'framing' him at the top
    WB: adjusted a bit warmer and tone a bit more green as opposed to magenta


    created layer of the bear only, feathered and contracted to prevent adjustments bleeding onto BG


    downsized to 1000px wide


    one round NR to BG - strength 6. 60%, no sharpening


    ran Robert's luminosity burning mask on BG @ 10% opacity, same for bear-layer


    ran Nik Tonal Contrast, all settings 13% except saturation 7%
    one slight round of smart sharpen after that, 0.2px, 125%
    selected face, another round of slight sharpening as above
    reduced magenta and blues in the bear (had a bit of a cast)
    burned highlights 5% on the bear, dodged shadows 5% on the bear
    dodged midtones on the face, 5% - all dodging, burning one stroke over areas
    burned grass in front of bear a bit (midtones)


    What do you think?
    Morkel Erasmus

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Looking at it now in context of your previous posts, I might go a tad darker overall...
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Thanks for taking the time to do a rework Morkel . I am on the iPad at the moment so I will take look later tonight on the big screen.

    Thanks for the detailed email and ill reply with my thoughts later on.

    cheers buddy

    Jamie

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