Wait for Us, Mom

[Loi Nguyen]

Just got back from Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada. The temperature was a relative balmy -20C (-4F) with strong wind and blowing snow. 4 fruitless days of waiting, I finally got to see my first polar bear and spring cubs. We stood in the cold for 4 hours until the bears woke up and were rewarded with a once in a life time experience. I especially like this image as it shows the strong bond and emotion between Mother and cubs.

Canon 1DX2
600f4 II + 1.4X TC III, Gitzo 3530LS, RRS Ball head

1/1600, f11, ISO 1000
Large crop, about 30% left of full frame.

I wished I had put on the 2X, but with blowing snow and cold fingers, hard to do anything except to shoot.

Hope you like it.

Loi

[haseeb badar]

Hi Loi -- This is such a special moment of this beautiful subject . Loved the way the cub is holding the snout of the Mum, and the other one snuggling itself. The large crop has affected the IQ and also the image looks thin to me. Would have liked more prominent outline in the bears as they appear quite merged in the snow. But a fabulous moment to have , enjoyed viewing this one .

TFS !

[Glenn Pure]

Wow, wow, wow. What a beauty Loi. I love the high key treatment and, of course, the tender moment captured. Timing perfect here. At this size I can't see any IQ problems but maybe if you tried to print? Beautiful subtle colouration too.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Loi - Huge cuteness factor. Looks like it was worth the wait. Such a large crop is never an ideal situation. I think you can bring out a bit more detail on the bears with a slight midtone boost. I realize that having little detail in the snow was a purposeful decision but if I was going in that direction then I would probably remove the twigs on the rhs. There's a little bit of magenta coming through on the cubs that I would remove if it were mine. Looking forward to seeing more though i admit to seeing a preview on FB. Oops, edited to add that I forgot to mention that you don't have an embedded color profile.

TFS,
Rachel

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Loi, PB's I have a lot of time for and this encounter is priceless and well worth the wait, welcome to cold weather. We spoke about this a few years back, glad you got the opportunity.

It can be hit or miss certainly and timing is a lot of guess work, dens can often be used many times, but these location are carefully noted, but you could find on your last day they surface after many day's of waiting, so Lady luck was definitely on your side.

I would have kept the kit as is and not used the 2x. Distance I think you may have wasted a lot of DoF, at around 50m plus I might have shot f/5.6. I would also have upped the SS to 1/2500, you had plenty of ISO, on a tripod and with cubs moving you want a fast SS IMHO, with a white BKG and well exposed file no worries on noise, it's a !DX MKII.

With regard to PP I feel you are missing a lot, albeit I'm on the laptop, with the OP there is truck loads of detail, texture and depth to be extracted. I'm ok with the central position, but I might clean things up on the RHS to keep focus on the subjects.

TFS
Steve

[Steve Kaluski]

Loi, I quickly re read and saw this is only 30%, the 2x OK, but I'm not sure on the IQ with the 600, if I owned it then I would know how comfortable the set up would be. Hard to tell on the real IQ of the file based on the posting, the only way is see the RAW. The great thing is that you would still have all the FP's with the 1DX MKII with the 2x albeit you would be at f/8 straight away and that might have been OK?

Change the extenders at those temperatures I think would not be an issue, I've skied in colder , but to me, the only thing would be, is to avoid any blowing wind/snow and watch the battery life which can dissipate oh so quickly, keep a spare in the inside of your warm jacket. I guess you would of had either a vehicle or 'hut' (which they often tow out to these spots) close by, so you could have switched kit inside a warm spot if you wanted, but would be interested to hear/learn more.

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi everyone, forgot to mention that the bears slept for 4 hours under great soft light and blowing snow. By the time they woke up, the sun was gone behind dark cloud, light was flat. Couldn’t get much details on the snow regardless of whatever setting. Distance is close to 75m. Steve, yes there was a vehicle near by, but once the camera and lens are cold, you don’t want to haul them in warmer car because everything will be frosted. Others were braver than me and did change to 2X. They had more pixels in the frame, but as far as I can tell from looking at people’s pictures, no one had much better details of the snow or the PBS. Light was as flat as a pan cake. Now they are taking reservation for 2020.

[Steve Kaluski]

Steve, yes there was a vehicle near by, but once the camera and lens are cold, you don’t want to haul them in warmer car because everything will be frosted.

True, were the vehicles that warm then, but I think you mean fogged as the lens hits the warm. Loi I still think that you did get more within the capture than you think.

Now they are taking reservation for 2020.

Good for them, I've got a 'possible' for next year, or 2020 elsewhere, but unsure about next year due to timings sadly.

[Loi Nguyen]

True, were the vehicles that warm then, but I think you mean fogged as the lens hits the warm. Loi I still think that you did get more within the capture than you think.



Good for them, I've got a 'possible' for next year, or 2020 elsewhere, but unsure about next year due to timings sadly.

the average sighting for this year was 1 per week, but there was a long stretch from Feb 28 to Mar 10 where no sighting to be had. Some people had to go home without seeing a bear, so we felt fortunate to have seen one.

upon more research on my own, the Polar Bear Institute reported that the temperature in the fall of 2016 around a Hudson Bay was super warm, bears were stranded on land as late as mid Dec, one month longer than normal. I think that correlates directly with the lower than normal sighting for Mom and Cubs. This last year 2017, things were back to normal, bears were gone by early Nov, many tours late in Nov in Churchill had to be cancelled, bad for the operators, good for the bears. My advice is if you can, 2019 will be a good year, better than 2018.

[Loi Nguyen]

Steve, thanks for working on my image. Mother's fur has more yellow, but the cub's fur was pure white. I have seen many people going warmer to bring out the contrast between the bears and the snow, but I think we need to maintain the almost pure white color of the cubs. Light was tough. To me this is more of a record keeping and memory. I meant to post a different image, hence the title was wrong, but it was hard to resist not to post this tender moment despite the large crop and not much details on the snow. Will post another one tonight.

[John Mack]

Very nice. Sounds like it was worth the wait. Great interaction here.

[Steve Kaluski]

I have seen many people going warmer to bring out the contrast between the bears and the snow, but I think we need to maintain the almost pure white color of the cubs.

That might be the case Loi, what I'm suggesting is that there is a lot more within the file that you can extract creating more depth & detail and the image justifies your long waits and patience. Colour well you were there, but the OP doesn't really convey that, it's all looking a bit hi key and so again, getting a better WB can only add to the capture.

Take your time and perhaps give it that 'over night' test before posting, I think you owe it to both yourself and your subjects, these are priceless encounters very few get to see, let alone photograph.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Loi,

So wonderful to see you back and posting My apologies for coming in so late, this is one amazing sighting (and capture) indeed!

Having read your intro I realise I have no experience whatsoever with taking images in such conditions. You went through some "hardships" to get this shot, but well worth it IMO!

Pose from this trio is superb - so much tenderness, little ones so playful and cute. Composition works for me. IQ looks good despite the large crop but I too feel you could extract more detail in post processing.

I found the OP a little flat, so to speak. I prefer Steve's RP which brings some much needed colour and tone. And I think he is right, worth another look at this lovely frame - it is the most beautiful capture I have seen from you

Kind regards,