Adult Brown Bear

[Rachel Hollander]

I decided to try this month's theme on a bear image. Taken at about 7:30 a.m. near Silver Salmon Creek Lodge in Lake Clark N.P., Alaska.

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

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[haseeb badar]

Hi Rachel -- What a huge looking Bear, the POV is really good here and the conversion works as well with that almost sepia feel to it. I might have provided more space at the foot while coming down from the top, but not a deal breaker , still working as presented . TFS !

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Rachel what a bummer of a bear !!!!
I do really like the overall look and feel with the big boy approaching you , at least it does look that way. I like the conversion and the overall tonal range you produced , detail is very good .
All techs looking fine ...and the crop works well .
I might change one thing , make the BG more even by darkening the lighter patches .
Only thing that is not in my favor is the toning .....

TFS Andreas

[Glenn Pure]

Beautiful toned shot, Rachel. I like this one a lot. I know how tricky and subjective it can be to get the tonal range right on these and I think you've really nailed it here. The detail is beautiful as well, with the rear of the bear just starting to drift into softness. Excellent contrast between the top of the bear and the background too. Those warmer tones are really nice and my personal choice for the wildlife shots I've played with. Thanks for sharing.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Haseeb, Andreas and Glenn for your comments and suggestions. As always, I very much appreciate it.

[Gabriela Plesea]

I like this very much, Rachel. From composition to colour to detail, it all works for me.

Great POV, feels as if the bear is about to exit the screen and step onto my keyboard

Techs well chosen and I like your PP work on this one, the conversion helps emphasise a sense of "imminent danger". I am not afraid of wild animals but I wouldn't want to cross paths with this bear

Thank you Rachel, lovely work my friend!

Warmest regards,

[dankearl]

i know it is the theme but I just think the color and tone is completely off for this kind of subject.
The bear would look spectacular with normal processing.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks everyone. Dan - due to the shadow on half the face this image didn't make the initial cut for me to process. Often when I look for something to convert to b&w I look for something with a bit more tonal range in the initial capture so the shadow didn't bother me as much with a conversion in mind.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Mike Poole]

Works as a subject for the conversion well for me, lovely tones throughout. In an ideal world there would be a little more eye contact, but not always possible. I don't think the shadow on the face is an issue here, it all looks natural, and having the dark BG has rally made the bear pop nicely

Mike

[Steve Kaluski]

I like the framing and position of the subject in frame Rachel, but with the head down it doesn't quite cut it for me, are there any frames prior or after with the head up and looking forward? Is the lower half of the body wet, if so I would slightly lower the sharpening on the front legs, they are looking a bit too sharp. I quite like the overall colour, but SilverEfex has a very limited palette, (albeit that you can adjust things to a certain degree) and so avoiding 100% of the native chosen colour which I feel helps. I would address the HL in the BKG RHS, they are a little distracting to me.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Mike and Steve. Steve - she walked looking down most of the time so this is the best for eye contact. On the bright side, it means she didn't care that we were there. The legs have dew on the them that she picked up as she walked through the grass. I'll take a look at the sharpening there.

Thanks again,
Rachel