These bear cubs liked to play on the beach at low tide in the afternoon while mom taught them to clam. This one particular day though mom and the cubs decided to snooze at the water's edge with the photographers lined up waiting for action. Our wait proved to be a long one but eventually paid off when mom nursed all 3 cubs in sweet light before leaving the beach. Of course, mom sat so as to face away from us but moving to the side allowed at least some view of the heads. Apparently, brown bears have 6 teats.
Canon 7D2
100-400 II @ 360mm
1/1000
f6.3
ISO 400 (Yes, Jon, the light was that sweet.)
HH while kneeling on beach, cropped to straighten (though the beach had a slight slope I thought people would suggest straightening it), levels, curves, TK lumo mask, color adjustments, sharpened in PSCC.
Wow Rachel -- really nice capture. The light here is just great. I love the variety of tones in the fur and how soft it all looks. I don't mind the shooting angle as we have a good viewing angle of the far one. Details look nice throughout. I think I remember you stating you don't clone / remove objects so the poop here stays. I wish I had more in the way of critique but I'm pretty taken with the image. TFS
Hi Rachel -- What a fine image , i loved the moment here , such an adorable sight , well timed and nice light to add to the already beautiful scene . Sometimes it gets difficult to capture an image with the shimmering water as the BKG but you have done exceedingly well in that department . loved the image and again the low POV simply works .
A tender moment Rachel and nice to see cubs with Mum in some cool light.
I think you were conservative with the DoF, personally I would have gone for f/8 as a starting point, as you had plenty of ISO to retain a decent SS too. Visually I feel it needs a tad CCW and if you have used a luminosity adj then clipping again in the dark shadows is apparent, but easily fixed. The POV is OK, but I can't help feel lying down for a much lower POV would have added to the capture. Sadly retaining the Bear pooh does detract for me sadly.
Lovely shot Rachel (yes you took the words right out of my mouth sweet light), the fur looks just beautiful to me. A lovely moment well captured... more please!
This is one opportunity I would have loved to have, I am a little jealous! I guess I must get used to it, there's more in those folders, right?
Love to see the interaction between mother and cubs here, such a lovely behavioural frame. Composition is great and the content so generous in terms of emotion, lots of affection between mommy bear and little ones. I also like the textures and colour of the bears' fur.
A powerful image IMO. Not sure I am able to change your mind about the presence of certain undesirable elements in the FG? I do realise this is true to nature, but when we capture a scene we do it to open the viewer's eye to certain things. I feel a process of selection is sometimes appropriate, like choosing what to show and what to leave out.
I guess you managed to get lots of images of this bear family and I look forward to see all of them. Please forgive my late comments here, I went to my little hideaway at the week-end to get some much needed energy for what looks like a very busy week ahead.
Nearly missed this one Rachel,a lovely tender moment very well captured,the fur looks so deep and soft that you feel like you could push your hand into it,not advisable me thinks.