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Thread: Grizzly in Yellowstone

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    Default Grizzly in Yellowstone

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    Took this shot earlier this year in May. He was on a ridge just off the road in Lamar Valley. Think he might be looking for some small insects. He took his time searching and had quite a gathering of spectators!

    5DII
    Canon 300mm f/2.8 L IS w/1.4x (420mm)
    f/7.1
    1/400 sec.
    ISO 800

    Matt


    Last edited by Peter Kes; 10-17-2012 at 01:20 PM.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Matt and a warm welcome to the Wildlife Forum.

    Compositionally I like it, the idea of looking up creates a good & different perspective IMHO, although perhaps a fraction big in frame for me. The posture, paw and head angle certainly conveys what is happening within the shot, especially with the small bits of flying debris. I feel though there are a few issues, one that can be easily address, the other perhaps not? The first is the the noise in the BKG which can be easily reduced by running some Noise Reduction (NR) and then masking the areas you do not wish to be effected when applying this. Now, the second, my I ask, why did you shoot -0.67EV? The detail in the bear is OK, however the subject is very noisy (grainy) which leads me to think the exposure wasn't quite right and you lightened the bear in the shadow areas which has brought out a lot of noise. Any thoughts Matt, would welcome your input for further feedback. Also the image has an RGB profile not sRGB which is ideal for web display.

    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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    Thanks for the feedback. Not sure why -2/3 exposure (how did you figure out?). Probably excited at the time and did not notice. Not much experience seeing grizzly bears or as such. I did crop image some, but i think the real problem is when i resize and reduce file size to under 250k. I shoot RAW and save them in large files. Even JPEG files are well beyond 250k. Here is a link to this pic without crop and ALOT larger. Tell me what you think! http://www.flickr.com/photos/fniguy/...57629936198906

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    Hi Matt, the data is all in the EXIF data contained within your image. Be careful with these guys as they can be unpredictable, therefore make sure they know you are there, a startle bear is not something you want, just talk quietly to them.

    Resizing isn't the issue I think, it's perhaps a combination of the file (how it's processed) and how you resize. If you are shooting RAW and then working with 16bit tiffs then you should be cropping from that to retain image quality (IQ) and remember to Save as, otherwise you will overwrite the original!!! How big a crop is this? The link to the image is a little better but still retains the same issues as your OP sadly. Might be worth just expanding a little on how you processed the image which may give some clues where we can perhaps help on.

    This link may help, but remember the file size is now 250kb
    http://www.birdphotographers.net/for...-for-Web-in-PS
    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 Matt,
    I took a look at your flicker version and the image quality does seem better there. Here was seem to have a lot more noise in the subject and the background.

    Getting that fur to look just right is not easy!

    Thanks for sharing,

    Gerald

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    Welcome Matt

    I think Steve has pointed out a few things for you to consider. This is a neat pose and maybe you under exposed to avoid blowing out the highlights in the bears's fur? Exposing for bears is tricky/near impossible when the sun is out or the light is very strong. Maybe post a copy of the RAW file without any processing work besides reducing the file size and saving it for web, let us see what it looks like before you processed it. You have the gear and the techs look fine.

    My images have improved with the help I received in this forum, so you have come to the right place ;)



    Jamie

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    Hi Matt - welcome! I like the behaviour here and the POV...
    Steve's touched on the major things I noticed upfront. I would try to bring out some more detail on the bear and reduce noise in the background. I like the flying debris!
    Looking forward to more from your portfolio...
    Morkel Erasmus

    WEBSITE


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    Hi Matt - I just wanted to add my welcome. Nothing to add to the already great advice and suggestions you've been given. BPN, especially the Wildlife Forum, is a great place to learn and improve both your image taking and post processing. Looking forward to seeing more of your images.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Here is a copy of the same pic w/o any adjustments per Jamie's request. Thanks to all for your comments!

    Matt

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    Quote Originally Posted by Matt Smith View Post
    Here is a copy of the same pic w/o any adjustments per Jamie's request. Thanks to all for your comments!

    Matt
    Cheers Matt, I'll take a closer look later tonight. On first inspection it looks as though the AF picked up the rocks instead of the bear.

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    Hi Matt, I took the repost into PS and then cropped and converted to web, burned a few highlights and applied some sharpening but no major changes. The file is now less than 1024px but the noise is far less apparent compared to the OP.

    Not sure what happened when you converted the image for the OP.

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    Thank you Jamie. Looks good. Not sure what converts to web does? Have seen it in PS but never looked into it. Also need to change settings on cameras to sRGB.

    Matt

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    Matt - don't change your settings in camera to sRGB. Shoot in Adobe RGB and also pp in Adobe RGB. For anything you are posting or displaying on the web, you can convert the color profile to sRGB at the same time or just before downsizing. In PS under the "Edit" tab Convert Color Profile is in the pull down menu. Steve Kaluski has posted step by step instructions on resizing and saving for web in the sticky at the top of the forum. Very easy to follow and flawless.

    Rachel

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rachel Hollander View Post
    Matt - don't change your settings in camera to sRGB. Shoot in Adobe RGB and also pp in Adobe RGB. For anything you are posting or displaying on the web, you can convert the color profile to sRGB at the same time or just before downsizing. In PS under the "Edit" tab Convert Color Profile is in the pull down menu. Steve Kaluski has posted step by step instructions on resizing and saving for web in the sticky at the top of the forum. Very easy to follow and flawless.

    Rachel
    Cheers for stepping in Rachel


    and good luck Matt, keep them coming.


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    Hi Matt, Rachel has expanded greatly on what you need to do, however not wishing to add or compound things, but...

    - Are you using Lightroom Y/N?
    - If not, and are using CS/PS (Creative suite/Photoshop) for your Raw conversion, don't forget to ensure that when you export the file, is a 16bit tiff, not 8.
    Post Production: It’s ALL about what you do with the tools and not, which brand of tool you use.

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    Thanks Guys! I will continue with RGB in cameras. Makes better sense. I got in the habit of using JPEG's some time ago. Maybe because they were faster to upload? Only 8bit and loses it's flavor over time i hear. I can always go back to the original in PS6 and grab another copy from the original. Right? As time goes by and many portable hard drives later it appears that i have been working harder and not smarter. Gonna start saving as with 16bit TIFF's.

    Steve, i began with LR1 some time ago but swithed to PS. Currently using PS6.

    Thanks again


    Matt

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    Hi Matt, shoot RAW and make sure your camera is set, as Rachel I think said, to Adobe RGB. Ensure the working space in PS is set to RGB and the text directly under the image when opened in PS ACR is changed to 16bit tiff. Your files will be bigger, but better and so you may need to think about more ex HD's. Always back-up (regularly) and write to two hard drives (mirror them) just in case one should fail!

    This may I feel have got 'off-topic' but it may also be helpful to others, so...

    Matt may I suggest any future queries, PM one of us, or more importantly, have a delve into other parts of the Forum for help, as there is a wealth of knowledge contained within the Forum.

    Look forward to seeing more from you and chiming in on other threads.

    cheers
    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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    Good stuff Steve. Will do!

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