Brown bear Ursus arctos arctos

[Jonathan Ashton]

Canon 1DX Canon 500mm f4 L IS II Auto ISO 12800 +0.3 1/800sec f4
Another shot from Finland, I didn't get chance to change to the zoom, I was too slow.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jon - He came close and I like the frame filling head shot. I do think you needed more dof but understand that likely wasn't possible given the techs and high ISO just to get 1/800. My turn to suggest reducing the highlights in the collar and guard hairs. There is something soulful about the eyes here.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Rachel, I did reduce the highlights, I found it difficult to get more detail, I concentrated on the face and ears - do you mean the shoulders?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jon - Yes, by collar I meant shoulder and neck area all around. I find my eye drawn to the lighter fur there.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Jon, you did well here given the FL & light. I love those eyes and the detail on the face is nice with that ISO. TFS.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jon - Yes, by collar I meant shoulder and neck area all around. I find my eye drawn to the lighter fur there.

Yes I went there but because it is out of focus it is to little avail I am afraid.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Jonathan -- I agree with Rachel's assessment of the frame, but i feel you could have gone for more ISO in order to get more DOF . But an image i enjoyed viewing , nicely done .

TFS !

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jonathan -- I agree with Rachel's assessment of the frame, but i feel you could have gone for more ISO in order to get more DOF . But an image i enjoyed viewing , nicely done .

TFS !

Agreed if the nose was a little more in focus would have been better. At this point I was getting a little frustrated with the light it kept going cloudy so I stuck in on full aperture.

[Steve Kaluski]

Jon, for me the eye are sharp so no issue on the DoF and if you could have more, I think it would need to be huge. I think you could explore another option whilst keeping the face/focus 'open' and temper the brighter fur. You did well to retain the detail you did.

TFS
Steve

[John Mack]

Love the details and the frame filling image here. Pretty nice considering the high ISO. Nice one.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon looking very nice for that Iso ...way better in terms of PP than you recent bears .
Great frame filler showing a very impressive big boy ....
I think you can throw in more tone into the HL or very light fur ...just create a faux double exposure or use linear burn at low % , twice or three times , but be aware of color shifts !!!!
Like this one a lot .

TFS Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jon looking very nice for that Iso ...way better in terms of PP than you recent bears .
Great frame filler showing a very impressive big boy ....
I think you can throw in more tone into the HL or very light fur ...just create a faux double exposure or use linear burn at low % , twice or three times , but be aware of color shifts !!!!
Like this one a lot .

TFS Andreas

I have been trying several things but forgot about linear burn - haven't used it for a year or so. I'll give it a try - thanks Andreas.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I have been trying several things but forgot about linear burn - haven't used it for a year or so. I'll give it a try - thanks Andreas.

Here we go:

[Steve Kaluski]

It's changed the colour Jon and to me, it appears flat now, there was life in the face in the OP????

[Jonathan Ashton]

Yup tried to put some colour back, maybe reduced too much orange and red at raw stage? Also noticed to red speckles in the fur in the ears, probably chrominance noise but I think possibly better fine detail in this one which is what I was after. One day I'll get what I am after!

[Rachel Hollander]

Jon - I agree with Steve about the last rp. My personal feeling is that you don't need detail in the brighter areas of the neck and shoulders, you just need to darken them in whatever manner you choose so that they are not the brightest area drawing the eye away from the detail of the face.

Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Jon ....looking at work at the RP so cannot really see much, taking Steve and Rachel´s comments , i bet you did not work that much selective like i meant .
If you use TK masks to blend that through , blur the mask with Median filter ....and exclude the face .
To avoid color shifts , duplicate the BG layer and drag it on top of the layer stack ....set to color blend mode , then you have the original color with the shift of linear burn .

Hope this helps

Cheers Andreas

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, much appreciated.
This is another repost using Andreas' suggestions.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jon, I would park this and move on, the reason is that it's moving further away from the OP and I feel you also are moving too far away in the 'vison', perhaps it's time to give the eyes a rest???

[Jonathan Ashton]

Hi Jon, I would park this and move on, the reason is that it's moving further away from the OP and I feel you also are moving too far away in the 'vison', perhaps it's time to give the eyes a rest???

Steve the file name was "final"! I made this last attempt because I hadn't tried Andreas' suggestions, I am always open to trying different ways even if I cannot get them to work in the most effective way.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hey Jon i can only echo Steve´s words .....let it sit ..., and with fresh eyes take a new tryout.
All changes you made are too drastic for my taste and you changed not only tone , even colors looking better in the OP from my POV .
Keep it simple and make subtle changes .....
Cheers Andreas

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Jonathan...my preference so far is for the original post...I do look forward to seeing another repost when you decide to re-visit this image.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Andrew, I will but I think Steve and Andreas have a good point, I will park it for now, it has been a useful if tricky experience. I have found these bear images less than straightforward, I am on reflection making a mountain out of a molehill.