Aug 3rd 2007 2:12pm Hallo Bay 1DmarkIIN 400mmf2.8 IS, EFII 1.4x, 1/400 @ f/4.5, ISO 400. Misty cloudy day beginning to clear slightly. On the left edge I did crop off part of the butt of another cub.
In my wildlife photos I prefer to be low (at the subjects eye level or slightly lower) I feel it is more intimate and also helps to convey the emotions I was feeling at the time of capture to the viewer of the image at a later date.
Great to see you here. Wonderful image. I love the soft colors of the grass and the bears both chewing and looking at you at the same time works well. Agree that the low angle is preferred and works well here. Having the bears in the center however doesn't work in this case. I would do of two things here. Make it a vertical or a horizontal with them off center. Example below. I cropped the horizontal with mom on the left because if on the right she end up in the middle. One thing I did with my bear images was to do a selection of the eyes, lighten them using the gray slider in levels and then selectively sharpen them lightly before doing a selective sharpening on whole bear. This made the eyes more visible.
Let me know what you think.
Last edited by Robert Amoruso; 02-26-2008 at 07:38 AM.
Lovely poses on both bears! I have a hard time with images that show a field of green that fills the frame. The green most often looks too yellow to me.
I got what I think is a more natural look to the grass in this one, but it would probably require another step to get the color in the bears back to where it should be. I also did a little S / H to tone down the bright sheen on the fur. I used Robert's cropped version because of the smaller file size, plus I really like the horizontal crop he showed.
I think the eye contact with both bears is very nice. The image seems to have a yellowish cast as mentioned by Jim.. Roberts cropping suggestions are very good. Love the low angle you used..
I love the low angle. It appears as if the bears are in a sea of colours. I would have first tried a vertical composition as both the mother and cub are close togather, then I would tried an off centre composition. I would have used a smaller apperture to get some more depth of field.
Thanks for the comments. I will try to add more information, the grass there was very yellow in reality yellow blades mixed with the green so that affects that...I was going with the color of the bears. With the crop on the left it changed the comp. with cloning or masking it has more image on the left. The eyes are brighter and have catchlights before I sized it for posting, I admit my challenge is workflow and images processing for the web etc.
Creamy is the first word that comes to mind. I like the color as is and like the way the grass is only slightly sharp and then fades into the smoothness of the BG. The original centered comp doesn't bother me either since the lines of their bodies and angle of the heads form an upside down "V" and there's no distractions in the rest of the pic. I do like the vertical crop as well though.
Steve
As posted I thought it showed the enviroment and I thought the comp worked, I do like Robert's vert. crop. As far as working it (which I usually do)...if you have ever tried to photograph more than one bear in the same image rarely do you get them all looking at you at the same time if ever. I do appreciate all comments and I am always willing to learn.
Todd, I think all has been said.... Just wanted to comment that your timming on the shutter was perfect on your image. Real kicker with them chewing on the grass!!
Best,
Howard