Polar Bear

[Rachel Hollander]

Taken at about 2 a.m. in the pack ice north of Svalbard, Norway from the deck of the boat. A light snow was falling.

Canon 5D3
300 II and 2x III
1/1600
f6.3
ISO 1600
Monopod, cropped for comp, levels, curves, luminosity mask, selective color, dodging and burning and sharpened in CS6.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Loi Nguyen]

Rachel, what a massive, powerful creature. Love the details of the fur. You nailed the exposure here. The falling snow is nice. I find the dark water a little bit distracting, but ne'er stand that this is the habitat and you were shooting from the deck of a ship and couldn't get lower! Love to see more of your trip. Loi

[Dumay de Boulle]

Fantastic IQ and great pose with the foot up. Great exposure and I love the falling snow...I dream to get to see them one day.

[Brendon Cremer]

Lovely image Rachel very well captured. Really like the falling snow in this, image looks well exposed just not sure if there may be a few blown highlights on the bears back? Image has great detail and colour too, comp wise i would loose half of the FG, otherwise great image.

[Gregor Bergquist]

Hi Rachel

I think this is a so powerful animal and your picture really shows that. I love it!

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks guys, I'm glad you like it. Brendon - I looked again at the highlights and I'm not seeing any blown ones. Where on the back?

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Morkel Erasmus]

This works a treat, Rachel! The falling snow adds so much, as does the hint of blue in the cracked ice behind the bear. Contrast/detail looks great.
Can't wait for more from your trip!

[Markus Jais]

Huge bear, fantastic shot. I like the sitting pose, the composition of the whole image. The best is the snow!

Markus

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Morkel and Markus, much appreciated.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, now you are bringing back more memories and I am glad you found the bears.

I know you will hate me for saying it, but for me it's another image I feel that would work better & sit better if it was flipped, however I know you will portray it as shot, but I cannot, not say it. Now you can understand what I meant about how difficult it is to get any light in the eyes and not to choke the black of the nose, looks good. It's difficult to tell on the laptop, but have you added any Contrast or LCE, if so I might just back off a lille on the fur? The falling snow just adds to the scene setting, excellent work.

TFS
Steve

[Brendon Cremer]

Hi sorry Rachel, I didnt explain very well. The highlights throughout the image look a litle hot, not blown, but could maybe toned down a little, it give the snow as well as the fur around the back closest to the top of the choulder a little more form, WDYT.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Steve. Looks good Brendon. Thanks

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Rachel, this is fabulous...the falling snow makes this extra special! Nice one.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Andrew

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Rachel, great image Glad that you have seen those beautiful animals out in the north.
Brendons RP looks quite better with the Highlights.

Have a great day

Ciao
Anette

[Shreyas Mantri]

It's a great looking animal and the shot looks well exposed. My experience of shooting Polar Bears is from the Bronx Zoo , and agree with Steve's comment on getting the eyes and the nose right. The falling snow and the blue streak of ice makes it even more special.
TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Anette and Shreyas, much appreciated.

[shane shacaluga]

Super shot of this giant!!

Question for you: Is there any particular reason why you went with that high SS and ISO? Were you shooting BIF and this bear appeared, or you wanted the high SS to stop any slight movements from the boat or just in case the bear ran?

Thanks for sharing

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Shane - thanks, I always tried to keep a minimum ss of 1/1600 because the boat's motor remained on and the boat continued to move albeit slightly or slowly but with the vibrations from the motor alone you need a high ss for sharp images. The polar bear and ice also continuously move with the water.

Hope this answers your question,
Rachel

[shane shacaluga]

Thanks a lot for the info. Much appreciated

[John Ippolito]

Simply awesome in its portrayal of the bear in it's environment. I like everything about it, it has a graphic quality,and the falling snow takes it up even further. Brendan's RP rocks. Beautiful work, Rachel.

Also, a big congratulations on your new post as wildlife moderator !! I couldn't think of a better candidate

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks very much John!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Rachel,
I really like this one a lot and the repost is about perfect! I have this on my bucket list!