'Minnie' the orphan Polar Bear

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi from 'Across the pond'!

This is my first posting so go kindly, (LOL), however finding this Forum was thanks to Ken Watkins, thanks :D

There has been a lot of publicity around a few polar bears and a whale carcass and many have shown the more 'adult' bears standing on it. But for me, the real struggle in this location is this bear.

Know to us as 'Minnie', she is an 18 month orphan Polar bear, half the size of bears her age and has had NO help to the ways of survival. Minnie has become a 'tough little cookie', learning to stand her ground with bears her age and older. If the whale carcass had not been around her fight for survival would have ended very quickly. But fate seems to have turned for the better and the bears located in this area are currently tolerant and well fed.

I hope she does make it and becomes a success story, rather than a statistic!

The shot just to clarify, is of her walking along the backbone of the decaying whale. Remember Ken?

Location: Svalbard

Kit: MKIII 300f/2.8 f/6.3 ISO400

[Todd Frost]

Nice moment captured. I like the water running off the rear paw. Exposure looks good. It might be a tad over sharpened but may just be the wet fur I am seeing.
Todd

[Fabs Forns]

Very nice story, glad she's doing OK. EXP looks right on and so is the habitat. I believe it needs to be rotated CCW.

Red carpet welcome to BPN, looking forward to more!

[Danny J Brown]

Welcome Steve! Your first image on BPN is a real beauty and I love the way you provided a feel for the surroundings with your composition. Also, a story with your photo is always a bonus. The image does appear to need a little CCW rotation - probably only a degree, to make it just right. Its amazing how the eye detects the horizon level. This drives me crazy with landscapes. Looking forward to more posts.

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Welcome Steve, awesome image I really like the low feeling of the photo

[Stu Bowie]

Welcome Steve, and thanks for the story. Excellent perspective, looks like you were in the water. Exposure looks good, and I agree with a tad of CCW rotation.

[David Fletcher]

Another welcome Steve. Looks like that was some trip. Fabulous shot to open with. some ccw rotation as mentioned, but otherwise pretty cool excuse the pun. Look forward to seeing more from you.

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks everyone and appreciate the warm welcome. Thought I might kick-off with somethings interesting, having received an email from Ken W.

Re the CCW rotation, interesting one this, I think it might be an optical illusion, perhaps? Thanks again :-)

[Ken Watkins]

Welcome Steve,

Just back from UK hence my delay in commenting

Beautiful shot lets see more over here at the "best photo critiquing site in the world"

[David Fletcher]

Thanks Steve for replying. Understand that optical illusion thing. (not doubting you, but want to share info as primary reason for replying now). Water looks like it is going uphill. hence most thoughts being ccw rotation. You're saying optical illusion. We can only comment on what we see. Is there something we are missing that can help us poor souls. :D. Any help is good. Dave


Edit.


The strangest thing. Looking at it, it is square. Apologies.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi David

Thanks for replying and if I can learn from others or help that's great for me. I have recently been shooting where water and birds are the main player and the horizon line has been 'key' in my mind.

Originally, yes the shot had to be slightly CCW rotated as shooting from a zodiac is not that easy at the best of times. I have always used the 'Ruler' in PS, drawing a point from left to right. Then going into Image > Rotate > Arbitary this will automatically give you the exact degree of change. This is what I did, but hope I got the two points right:)

Hope this makes sense.

Steve

[Judy Lynn Malloch]

What a wonderful story and image. I too wish her the best and am so glad she has made it thus far. Please do keep us posted if you have any news. Lovely composition Steve and big welcome to BPN.