The Pounce

[Rachel Hollander]

Taken at Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park, Alaska in July 2010.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 275 mm
1/640
f5.6
ISO 400
HH from the platform. Cropped a little off the right, S/H, curves adjustment and sharpened in CS5.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Jamie Douglas]

Nice image Rachel. I like the intensity in the eye but I would have liked the scene to be just a little bit sharper. This is one to be proud of though.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Rachel, a shot like this is always difficult to execute as you never know when they are going to strike, plus the light doesn't look as if it was on your side. However, saying that, any brighter and it would have proved difficult to control the whites in the water, so a slightly overcast day has helped you with that. Nicely positioned within the frame, but would agree, a bit more sharpness would have helped the head, leaving the slightly OOF/moving, trailing paw in the water, a nice touch.

TFS
Steve

[Andrew Merwin]

A very nice capture Rachel. I do agree with the above comments. I also like the composition. Well done. TFS

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Jamie, Steve and Andrew for the comments, much appreciated.

Rachel

[Robert Amoruso]

Rachel,

I feel that in this instance it would have been preferable to have gone to ISO 800 and gotten a 1/1250 sec. shutter speed. That would have made a big difference and noise could have been dealt with in post-processing.

[Grant Atkinson]

Hi Rachel, I really like this shot, especially the way the bear is almost leaning into the water. The water streaming away to the right adds a strong sense of motion. the shot would be even stronger for me if you could coax a bit more punch and detail out of the bear...

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Rachel , I do like the posture of the bear and rushing water giving the image a great sense of action . As mentioned a bit more detail would add to the image.

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks Robert, Grant and Pieter for the suggestions and comments. I'll try to rework the image a bit. Robert -you're right about the ISO but unfortunately I wasn't ready for the pounce. There were a lot more bears just standing around that afternoon.

Thanks again,
Rachel