Back from the Arctic

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi all - I returned last week from a photo trip to Svalbard on a small boat. I thought I'd post something a little different for my first image. This was taken between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. and purposefully underexposed to create a silhouette against the shimmering light.

Canon 5D3
300 f2.8 II plus 2x III
1/8000
f7.1
ISO 400
Monopod from moving boat, cropped for comp, levels, curves, added a couple of points of black and sharpened in CS6.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Firstly, congratulations on joining the Wildlife Mods, great to have you on board.

Well Rachel, told you you would enjoy it and I think we could be in for a real treat based on this posting. Good choice on both techs and I like the subtlety in tones, it echoes the scene extremely well. I also like the posture, almost one of hunting seals, braking the pack ice, but I doubt if that is happening here? There is just the right amount of form in the bear just to build that form, so nicely done on the processing. Personally I might have lose the two bits of ice above to give a 'cleaner' BKG so your eyes just go to the subject and flip the image, but you know I would say that, LOL. I wonder if a little could be shaved off the foot, WDYT?

Well done & keep them coming.

TFS
Steve

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Rachel,

told you already, love it

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi Rachel

Very good thinking there. Excellent choice underexposing and making it a silhouette picture. Love it.

[Diane Miller]

Wonderful, with a lovely color palette appropriate to the simplicity of the silhouetted scene.

[dankearl]

Envious of your trip and congrats on the moderator status, you will make a fine one!
I like this, I would get rid of the dark Ice above and take some off the top and bottom.
Creative thinking and well done.

[Stan Cunningham]

Nice silhouette and great shot as everyone pointed out above. This image is great but I'd try a couple other crops as well. Both almost panos with one showing the water below and the bear and ice in the upper third, the other the opposite with the bear in the lower with the water above and maybe one in between. You can see it by just scrolling with your OP. I like pano scenes so maybe I'm the only one that would like it, as I said, great shot as it is.

[Robert vanMierop]

Very nice...creative. Looks like something you'd see at dawn as you're exiting your tent out there.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everybody for the kind comments. I agree there are lots of possibilities for crop/comp with this one. I have some other panos that I'm sure I'll post at some point.

Steve - no hunting going on there. We saw very few seals on the trip.

Robert - no tents. This was taken up in the pack ice around 81.5 degrees north. You can only get there with a boat and there's no land on which to pitch a tent.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Bill Jobes]

This is a very dramatic scenic moment, Rachel -- excellent !

Was the light from the sun low in the sky ? Moonlight? Both ?

I ask, because I'm trying to understand why the photo looks monochrome especially at the top and at the left, and a seemingly very unusual color temperature, almost brassy bright, in the lighter spots on the right side and the bottom.

There seems to be more going on than would be rendered by a simple silhouette. The bright areas aren't really golden as I (probably incorrectly) presumed they would be.

Perhaps a full black and white treatment would be a worthy experiment ?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Bill - thanks. The sun was low in the sky but always up and the result is that when it breaks through the clouds there is a band of shimmering golden or silver light in a direct line with the sun. For this image we were positioned so that the bear was between the boat and the sun in that band of light. It was a new moon while I was there so never even saw it in the sky.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Bill Jobes]

The silver light explains it -- thanks Rachel. That must have been so very cool to see.

[Loi Nguyen]

Rachel, congrats on getting on Wildlife Mods. This image is beautiful. Love the form of the polar bear and the silvery light dancing. I'd suggest go for a pano crop and remove the water at the bottom as one alternate crop. Loi

[Davidwilliams]

super evocative capture, I have been looking at a trip to Svalbard for the last two years but have not been able to decide on a boat, a lot seem very large and not ideal for wildlife photography, any chance you could let me know who you went with and your thoughts about them ?
many thanks in anticipation of further photographs from your trip
David

[Russell Johnson]

Good sihouette with the element of interesting behaviour.

I would be inclined to look at a pano crop as has been suggested. My on nit would be the shimminering water does draw away from bear a touch.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Loi, David and Russell, much appreciate the comments and suggestions. David - I'll send you a PM.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

David, Rachel can give you a very in-depth report. The main factor will be budget & when you want to go. Big sips may cost you a little less, but then you do not get the more 'personal' approach. Also Polar bears can be very elusive so please bear this in mind as you will cover a large area in the hunt for them.

[Shreyas Mantri]

Hi Rachel,
Beautiful scene, and nice to see that your 300 II set is already getting used in the wild :-)
I personally would prefer the bottom cropped to the edge of the ice sheet.

Congratulations on getting on the Moderator's panel!

[Morkel Erasmus]

Firstly, Rachel, welcome to the Mod Squad! Your inputs are already valued by all, so very little will change methinks .
Secondly - nice image, I like that a bear that's usually white can be portrayed "black". I second a crop from the top.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Shreyas and Morkel. Morkel - happy to be on board.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[edwardselfe]

Cool image - not much to add. You could do all sorts of crops with this, but the floating ice above is the only thing that bothers me and I'd crop to remove them if possible. Otherwise it's beautiful.
Ed

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Ed