Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Happy Bear

  1. #1
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    42
    Threads
    7
    Thank You Posts

    Default Happy Bear


    Sitting for a portrait by Paul Whitbread, on Flickr

    Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L (rented), ISO1250, 1/320s at f/4.0
    Slight tweaking in LR; white balance, cropped off a little from the bottom, noise reduction and some sharpening.

    This was taken in the woodland hide at Martinselkosen in Finland, where the bears have been coming for twenty years in return for food. I know I'm anthropomorphizing that grin, but I can't help but think of it as a happy bear.

  2. #2
    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    NYC
    Posts
    14,320
    Threads
    929
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Hi Paul - very nice portrait with good detail and sharpness. A very slight midtones adjustment (moving the middle slider in levels to the left to about 1.08) selectively to the bear gives it a nice lift and a little more life/pop to the image. Good choice on portrait comp. Just a clarification - when you say the bears come in exchange for food are they baited?

    TFS,
    Rachel

  3. #3
    Forum Participant
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Thousand Oaks, California, United States
    Posts
    3,023
    Threads
    416
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Hi Paul, lovely image and the bear did look happy indeed! Difficult back lighting, but you handled it well. Other than the suggestion made by Rachel, I can't think of anything else to add.

    Loi

  4. #4
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    42
    Threads
    7
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Rachel Hollander View Post
    Just a clarification - when you say the bears come in exchange for food are they baited?
    Yes. For the last twenty years, the family run Martinselkosen put out food every night in front of a series of hides. They start after the bears come out of hibernation but stop before the start of the bear hunting season (when most of the bears know to move across the nearby border to the less populated Russia)

  5. #5
    BPN Viewer
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    42
    Threads
    7
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Loi Nguyen View Post
    Difficult back lighting, but you handled it well.
    I was actually quite fortunate. This is from a hide in the woods, and the night I was in it was slightly overcast. It made the low light-high iso situation a bit worse but at least meant I was working with relatively uniform light. People who were in the hide on the nights either side had to contend with some pretty harsh lighting and strong shadow transitions as the sun shone through the trees.

  6. #6
    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Somewhere in the world
    Posts
    20,551
    Threads
    1,285
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Attached Images Attached Images
     
    Hi Paul, this brings back memories of a similar location, 20 minute hike in mid summer and eaten alive by bugs, but that was over 8 years ago with a good friend of mine!

    As I'm away and working on the laptop I could be wrong, but overall I feel there is a yellow 'cast' within the image which is masking some of the detail IMHO. I took your image and basically got a starting mid grey point which has lifted the cast I feel, now it may look cooler and you were there, so the final overall look I would leave to you. Having a side profile helped with the DOF and has created a nicely diffused BKG. Glad you retained the bugs around the head, it's in keeping with the scene. I would look to getting some more detail and definition from the eye are surrounding area, likewise the nose. The eye will really make a difference. I quite like the crop, however if time allowed and these bears to hang around for a long time, swopping lenses and pulling out so the subject was smaller in frame with more environment would have been nice too. Perhaps that's to come?

    BTW we have changed the maximum size for posting, you can now post vertical images at 900px high or if landscape, 1200px wide.

    TFS and look forward to your participation in other threads.

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

  7. #7
    BPN Member Anette Mossbacher's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Switzerland
    Posts
    1,818
    Threads
    95
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Hi Paul,

    very nice image and he does smile. You got good suggestions above. Hope to see more from your trip.

    Have a great day

    Ciao
    Anette

  8. #8
    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    South Africa
    Posts
    14,858
    Threads
    1,235
    Thank You Posts

    Default

    Nice pose here...and some good suggestions received already. To me the face/eye could use just a hint more sharpness. I like Steve's repost for colour and contrast as well.
    Looking forward to more of your images and your contributions to other threads so we all can get to know you and learn from you...
    Morkel Erasmus

    WEBSITE


Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Web Analytics