Hi William,
Looks like some tough shooting conditions. Good visibility on the eye (even the shadowed side is slightly visible). Looks like there's some shadows that can't be recovered? (processing or maybe my monitor)
Steve
Can you give us more details on your image? Like time of day, exposure settings, where was the sun in relation to you, etc It does appear like you had a lot againist you, the sun is harsh and your blacks are a bit dark. However you did get something to show off. When the unexpected happens it pays to be on top of things. Please keep posting.
Hi Grady it was the middle of the day the biggest thing i did was give the blacks aboost in selective color and i over did it i beleave, thanks for the comments
For the middle of the day and a huge black subject, I might have gotten as close as I dare and then used my longest glass for a tight crop of the face or head and shoulders. Perhaps you will get a second chance.
Contrast was you enemy here and having a black bear out in mid-day sun is a killer.
I suggest that you process this image twice. Once for the shadows and the bear and then for the BG. You do two RAW conversions - correcting for and getting detail in the bear and then another for just the background. ACR would be a good choice here.
Then combined the two and blend them together with a mask.