Brown Bear Blur

[Sharon Hallowell]

Image was shot in Geographic Harbor last month. My husband and I rented a private yacht for 5 days, touring Kodiak archipelago and Katmai, and this is one of the places our captain took us. We took a small raft into land, and the slowly walked our way towards the stream. An experience I will never forget!
This was shot with a slow shutter to create the blur, vibrance was increased and noise reduction applied. I like this image almost as much as the non-blurred shots I got of the brown bears! I'd like to know if it works for you!

50D, 100-400@400, ISO 1600, .3, f13 Thanks for looking!
Sharon

[Arthur Morris]

There's lots I like and lots I do not like :). I like the image design with the bear back in the frame and I love the rocks esp. in the upper right. And I like the degree of blurring. The image is overall way too dark. And there is a too much room below the bear and a bit too much behind the bear. So. Pointing the lens up a bunch and a bit more to the right would have been the way to go at the time of capture.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Hi, Sharon, welcome to OOTB I like this a lot. Just the right amount of blurring and I love the background. I could see just a slight crop from the bottom. I took it into photoshop and did a quick levels adjustment and cropped a little from the bottom. I think lightening the background enhanced the textures there. I hope we'll see lots more from you!

[Sharon Hallowell]

I took another crack at this with a new crop, brightening, and some color filters. I'm really new at this stuff and I appreciate your help and comments! Original was definitely too dark and the crop suggested by you both, is so much better! Thanks!

[Dennis Bishop]

I like your initial capture, Sharon, but I prefer Cheryl's re-post because of her cropping. It places the bear in a stronger position in the image, I think. Overall, I don't mind the darkness of your original post, but I think there's greater contrast between the bear and the background in Cheryl's lighter version. The background is quite striking in your re-post, but -- in my opinion -- it competes with the bear. In addition, the greater variation in color of the bear in that one seems to make it harder to see it as a bear (if that makes any sense).

[Arthur Morris]

I like the repost a lot, even the lighter rocks. I'd take some RED out of the bear.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

I like Cheryls' processing with your crop. Hope to see you posting more. Must have been a wonderful trip.

[Randall Farhy]

Welcome to OOB! This shot reminds me of one of my first blur images in the days of slide film. (Horses on a farm). Anyhow, this one is like porridge-here's an interpretation with a ton of vibrance and some saturation removed, as well as the red mentioned by Artie. I also increased clarity to add some definition within the blurs. I then desaturated the blue channel by 25 units. As for crops, I'd like to see just a bit more on the bottom of your last post to better locate the bear...

[Saurabh Singh]

Sharon ,

Really appreciate that you experimented than the usual way of capturing this moment

I would go with your repost as it enhances the overall mood of the image with added bright rustic colors but a little darker bear ( or same as OP ) can take this Image to a different level .

Regards
Saurabh Singh

[Paul Lagasi]

I really like your image, frame and all. I am a fan of frames. Good points made by all, welcome to OOTB.

[Arthur Morris]

Nice re-post Randall. But I really miss the CYAN in the rocks.