European brown bear cub with mother

[Jonathan Ashton]

Taken from a hide in Finland , monopod Canon 1DX Canon 500mm f4 L IS II & 1.4TC III Auto ISO ISO 6400 (+0.3) 1/800 sec f.56
I will be interested to see what you think, does mummy bear add or detract??

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Jon - Nice detail and tones. For me, mom adds to the image. It tells more of a story with mom and cub both looking in the same direction. What grabbed their attention? The only thing that detracts for me is the white tree trunk's position in the frame. It almost acts to divide the frame and seems a barrier to mom.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks Rachel I’ll have a look at toning it down

[John Mack]

I wonder what they are looking at. The mom is a nice element in this frame. Looks great for ISO 6400.

[Glenn Pure]

Jon, this is pretty nice. I agree with Rachel that the tree trunk is a problem though. But having both the cub and mother in works well compositionally. The texture and detail on the cub's coat is really excellent and up to your usual high standard.

[Mike Poole]

I really like this one Jon, the positioning of the mum with her head angle is nice against the nice sharp cub. I think someone needs to take a chainsaw to that tree!

Mike

[Stuart Philpott]

Jon the only negative for me that birch,mum really works the detail of cub stunning,just that tree. Beautiful frame though I love two two looking in the same direction.
Mumm adds !!

TFS stu

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jon, love the cub on the log, the stance is pretty cool, nice an alert too. Not a lover of Mum in the BKG, just feel it distracts along with the vertical Silver birch. Again just watch your Blacks, Contrast & Shadows, clipping a little on the cub in the shadow areas. No one mentioned the Blue in the log???? Looking good at 6400, but could have gone to 8000 too, not a problem.

Personally I might have popped on the 2x and tried to isolate the cub more as that for me, is the main centre of focus.

TFS
Steve

[Andrew Merwin]

Great pose by the cub on the log. The fur detail is excellent. I agree with the above comments. I am glad I was not the focus of their attention.