Clamming

[Rachel Hollander]

I guess the clam counts as a second species. It was amazing to watch the bears dig for clams during low tide. Each had a different method of actually opening the clams, some raked it with their claws, others crunched it in their teeth and some did a combination. I wanted to also emphasize the claws here.

Canon 5D3
100-400 II @ 400mm
1/1500
f5.6
ISO 800
HH lying down, slight crop for comp, levels, curves, sharpened in PSCC.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the tight framing and I feel you succeeded in emphasizing the claws. I would suggest lowering the luminosity on the bright fur I think it helps a little.
Am I right in assuming you have reduced magenta?

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Jon. I processed this one while I was still on the trip. No reduction of magenta.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Rachel. A nice theme image with good angle and framing. The clam and claws both make this image!

[haseeb badar]

Hi Rachel -- A lovely image , you have done well in the framing department and the low POV helps again. I feel the details are a bit coarse here, might be the wet fur ? or is it just me ?

TFS !

[John Mack]

Like the composition and the low angle and the detail on the bear.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, being side on has worked in terms of profile and sensor. I like the behavioural aspect, but for me if you wanted to show the claws then you really needed to go tighter and be more specific, almost a 'Detail' POV here and then use the 300 with a 2x. I might have gone to f/8 and upped the ISO, not a problem for the 5D to retain the same amount of SS. I like the crop and getting down flat is a must for this capture, nice POV. Some simple Curves will deal with the brighter highlights and adding a bit of overall mid tone also helps. In Levels what did you do???? You can easily review in the Layered PSD file. Personally I might try to get some more depth in on the FG and get a better neutral in the sand, just a thought. One thing I would clone out is a mark, top LHC about an inch down, it has to go, no question.

TFS
Steve

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel i do like the side view of the bear and his clamming action ...well captured IMHO .
You have lovely detail and the colors in the fur are looking good .
For emphasizing the claw action i think you should have gone closer / tighter . Well you could crop and loose some FG and cut off half of the left front leg .
Surprised to see the shooting angle ..does look a bit steep for lying flat on the ground ....maybe i am wrong.
The HL are looking ok in general , but for more detail and tone i might throw some tone into the red enemy .

TFS Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

Steve - In levels I brought the whites slider in to 250 just before clipping began. You know the spot in the sand stays for me . I think the color of the sand is accurate but maybe I am misunderstanding your suggestion.

Andreas - I was propped up on my elbows shooting. What's the "red enemy?"

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Ok Rachel thanks ....next time no elbows ....chin into the dirt ...or more elegant , use an angle viewfinder for an even lower POV , more impact i think .
The " red enemy" is simple ....the clipped red channel , in most cases you blow the HL there .Rather than the two other channels , so i call the red my enemy . The green is my friend, always a good channel as it is the cleanest one of the three.
Well the blue is pretty much useless .....it is there just to hold the RGB up .....
Try to delete each channel , one at a time , you will see the importance of each one .
Too techy .. i know

Cheers Andreas

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks for the explanation Andreas!

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dearest Rachel,

This is more a case of "species eating other species" rather than "multiple animals, different species"

Wonderful behavioural frame, well composed and great POV. Superb pose from the bear and I love the concentration on its face, the dug up clam adds lots of interest.

Seems like a tiny morsel for such a big bear?! I can just imagine him digging in the sand, silent like a harvester and intent on his reaping... I wonder how many clams he stumbles upon in one day?

I truly enjoyed viewing, please let us have more of those bear images, Rachel. Thank you so much for sharing,

Warmest regards,

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Gabriela, they can eat hundreds of clams in a day in addition to grass, etc.