bear shake

[greg cowle]

I went for a slower shutter speed to blur the drops rather than freeze them, at this speed still enough detail on the face despite the rapid movement. But like the abstract feel to this.
1/320, f11, ISO3200, 800mm. Processed in LR.
Kuril Lake in August.
Greg

[Jonathan Ashton]

I like the image Greg, exposure and colours good. The image works - to a degree, I am not sure what the perfect shutter speed would be, I wouldn't be surprised if this was close. I suspect the thing I am alluding to is the focus, where was it? The nose looks slightly out, so do the eyes, nevertheless a very eye catching image, not an easy one to nail.

[greg cowle]

Jonathan - good questions, probably not able to give precise answers to all, but will expand. Focus was on the eye/snout, I have a sequence of about a dozen shots and can see it in the burst (14fps), but there is clearly motion blur at this speed. But I was after something different in the water as opposed to frozen. Also in the sequence it clearly makes a difference when in the head shake he was, in the middle (snout down) it is all a blur, but this is near to when he changes direction, so it is more still. If you look at the position of the soft shout this looks just after the head turned back, the soft flesh is lagging. I have 2 or 3 in the same sequence which work, the others don't but the focus is the same in all. I think 1/100 would have been too slow, 1/1000 would not have got the same water effect. For this I think I was in the range, but there is no perfect answer. But this is not for bear ID! To me this is abstract, colors and form.

[John Mack]

Very nice. Really like how you can see the motion in the "shake". All that splashing water is really neat.

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

Hi Greg, this is awesome. I like the effect it gave and those streaks of water drops and the shaking behaviour is really cool! The POV and the pose is amazing.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Greg -- I liked the execution and framing. Agree with what Jon has to say regarding the focus. Techs look nice to achieve the effect especially the ss. Nice choice on Dof as well .

I might reduce the Saturation slightly and contrast as well, might help in bringing back some more details .

Nicely done.

TFS !

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Greg, the image needs a rotation CW so the feet are level. Certainly 'abstract' as everything is taken up in the blur motion.

From my perspective, if you use 1/125th SS or slower then you will increasingly elongate the raindrops, of course the converse is that shooting above 1/125th will increasingly freeze the raindrops/spray to be more defined as dots. If it was me, I would have shot at an aperture of f/5.6 to allow the closest raindrops/spray to stand out from the background, however as you set the aperture to f/11 then all of the spray to a degree, will be swallowed up by the background and again the effect will be lost. So for the future I would be keep your focal lengths long and you apertures small.

TFS
Steve

[greg cowle]

Thanks John, Sanjeev, haseeb and Steve for the comments. Based on the burst I shot here I think it would have been tough to get a capture with sufficient stillness in the face to get a result <1/125, anything but the change in direction is a complete blur on the snout even at 1/320. I could be wrong, but will never know... Agree the steaks would be longer, but I also can't say for sure that would be better. At f11 the DOF is about 40cm, so only about the length of the head, seems good for this. But to be sure if I used different settings in this situation I'd get a very different capture - I'm happy with this result. Bear in mind this was a one burst opportunity, there was no repeat of the same position in the same light even with all the action.

[Jay Shah]

Hi Greg, I like your experimenting, thinking on your feet. Something not easy for me to do always. And I like the result as well. Image depicts the moment well. LIke the color palette as well.

[greg cowle]

Thanks Jay. I normally start with more conventional settings, but like to experiment. Doesn't always work, but I had been thinking about how to capture water in preparation for the trip and knew I wanted to try slower shutter speeds. Worked out fine here. A place like Kuril Lake, if you are lucky, you will be surrounded by bears for hours, so there is plenty of time to experiment.

[William Dickson]

I really like this one Greg..I think your SS showed the action nicely. I love the 'movement' of fur around the head.

Will

[greg cowle]

Thanks Will, I'm glad you like the fur movement - it is one of my favorite aspects of the shot, if not the most obvious.