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Thread: Come dine with me

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    Default Come dine with me

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    Dining with Black Bears - ISO4000.

    It is not everyday you get to sit on a creek bed while a young black bear dines on a chum Salmon a stones throw away. I was blown away while I was photographing salmon in the local creek on Saturday when this bear showed up. Eventually the bear felt comfortable enough to pick a salmon close by to me and then lye down to eat while I sat on the bank. The rapid firing of the shutter got the bears attention and also got me a few sharp images while I sat shaking with adrenaline.

    Unfortunately it looks like either the bear found a pot of green paint recently while scavenging in nearby bins or someone took a pot shot at it with a paintball gun - which sadly wouldn't surprise me. This image is more about documenting the moment rather than being a show piece and I am pretty impressed with the IQ at ISO4000.

    I went back to the same spot this afternoon and counted that the distance between me and the bear was just shy of 16ft . Still getting over it.

    Canon 1d mark IV | 70-200mm F2.8 IS | 175mm | F2.8 | 1/400 | ISO4000 | Manual Mode

    Edited in LR and PS CS6

    1x round of NR at strength 6 and 1x round of USM sharpening.

    P.S I need to call it a night so I apologise for not leaving any comments on other images this evening and I'll be back tomorrow to chip in.
    Last edited by Jamie Douglas; 10-20-2013 at 11:37 PM.

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Jamie - I can understand why your adrenaline is pumping, 16ft wow! My first thought was something looks off about the color of the bear. Thanks for explaining about the green paint. I can't believe how some people act, it's unforgiveable. Nice low pov and the coy look he is giving you is great. If it were mine I would sharpen the nose and eye area a little more and run another round of NR on the bg.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Forum Participant edwardselfe's Avatar
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    What a sighting. This is a nice close up portrait with a bit of environment to show it off. I would lift shadows a little (and perhaps even the whole exposure) to bring more detail into the dark areas of fur and background. Think Rachel's suggestions are also spot on.
    Ed

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Great POV and intimate moment, Jamie! Sightings like these are what it's all about and you'll never forget this...
    Pity about the green colour - I would like to get my hands on anyone shooting at wildlife with a paintball gun (well, rather a paintball gun than a .308 right? )
    Your processing on this high ISO image is really good!
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Thanks for the feedback guys and improvement tips Rachel. Part of is thinking man I wish the green paint wasn't there from a selfish perspective as it isn't ideal for photogenic purposes and the other side of me is thinking, I am going to get paintball canon and insert it where the sun doesn't shine and turn whoever did this into the kid from the 80's video game Rainbow Islands. Remember the kid who somehow managed to fire rainbows form his body? Well he make a comeback if I get a hold of who did this to the poor young bear.

    Thanks for the compliment on the processing Morkel. You were a contributing factor to me working at higher ISO when I saw some of your images beyond the usual ISO1600 comfort zone. By far the best IQ I have shot at ISO4000 IMO and I had explored PS a little more and discovered a good setting for controlling noise and highlights beyond NR reduction.

    A moment I'll share with my son and pass on to future generations of Douglass for sure.

    Here is a repost with an additional round of NR and sharpening. Sharpening might be too subtle to notice as I didn't want the fur to get crunchy.

    Thanks again

    Jamie
    Last edited by Jamie Douglas; 10-21-2013 at 10:12 PM.

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Jamie, your perseverance paid off with a very nice image.

    I might look to trying to reduce the lighter, highlighted leaves in the BKG, a little distracting, but you did get the low POV which makes a difference. I would certainly keep an eye out for this little guy in the future, but I assume time is ebbing away quickly before he disappears, hitching a ride on one of the dumpster to den in my 'winter playground'.

    Swing by Joe 40's to see if they have any tasty off cuts that may help coax him out. Good work Jamie.

    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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    BPN Viewer Steve Canuel's Avatar
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    Sounds like a great experience Jamie and the IQ doesn't look to bad at all. Regarding the possibility of a paintball shooting, some places have used paintballs as a non-lethal deterrent to get bears out of neighborhoods and back into the woods. A better alternative than getting labeled a "problem" bear and getting euthanized for getting into trash cans that people don't care to bear proof. Of course there are people who think its fun to just shoot things as well.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Canuel View Post
    Sounds like a great experience Jamie and the IQ doesn't look to bad at all. Regarding the possibility of a paintball shooting, some places have used paintballs as a non-lethal deterrent to get bears out of neighborhoods and back into the woods. A better alternative than getting labeled a "problem" bear and getting euthanized for getting into trash cans that people don't care to bear proof. Of course there are people who think its fun to just shoot things as well.
    Sadly in this case I think the paintball is someone getting cheap kicks. I forwarded this image to a friend of mine who has contacts in the local conservation groups and she explained the RCMP are aware of someone up to no good but can't act based on the evidence to date. Sadly this is the reality as you are probably all too well aware of from the local bears and their urban lifestyle.

    Hopefully he doesn't get into trouble on this creek as it isn't all that far from remote homes.

    Cheers for the image feedback

    Jamie

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Hi Jamie, your perseverance paid off with a very nice image.

    I might look to trying to reduce the lighter, highlighted leaves in the BKG, a little distracting, but you did get the low POV which makes a difference. I would certainly keep an eye out for this little guy in the future, but I assume time is ebbing away quickly before he disappears, hitching a ride on one of the dumpster to den in my 'winter playground'.

    Swing by Joe 40's to see if they have any tasty off cuts that may help coax him out. Good work Jamie.

    TFS
    Steve
    I had forgotten about the bear that hitched a ride on top of he dumpster to downtown Vancouver. This bear is daily visitor to this creek so I'll hopefully get a chance to pay him/her another visit this weekend before the stench of the dead salmon becomes too much. No additional bait required in these circumstances given all the salmon luckily although I prepare some surf and turf.

    From watching the bear it goes after the big live ones and doesn't bother with the dead carcasses.

    I need underwater housing or a bear proof box to get some wides of the bear fishing. Wishful thinking I think.

    Get waxing those skis and I'll maybe join you on the slopes this year or we could just get a large tarp and slalom our way down blackcomb gracefully... NOT. Would be a heck of a ride though.

    As for processing, I was hesitant to work on the image any further and risk over processing it. Brad Hill gave me some feedback on processing high ISO images and told me to take care not to over process and risk making the image look too flat. I felt leaving a little light on the leaves preserved some texture and depth but I am still learning. I'll have a further play around with the fish head area and foreground leaves at least.

    Catch up soon

    Jamie

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