Black Bear Cub

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi

I will be spending a lot of time photographing Black Bears this year and more often than not the light wont be on my side so I will be pushing the 7D's ISO.

The image above is a typical situation light wise so any thoughts about how to get the most of an image like this?

I ran some curve adjustment, BG noise reducation, and applied a warming filter because the original looked a little washed out.

Techs:
Camera Model Canon EOS 7D
Lens EF400mm f/5.6L USM tripod mounted.
Av( Aperture Value ) 5.6
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/400
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Compensation 0 correct slightly in PS

Thank you kindly

Jamie

I decided to start a Blog Diary this year so I could document all my encounters: "Black Bear Diaries 2011 by J M Douglas Photography" so feel free to check it out as I will be sharing my encounters througout the year: http://jmdouglasphotography.blogspot.com/

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jamie, is there anyway you could post the image bigger within the guidelines sizes, as at this size it is very difficult to pass on any feedback/comments relating to the image posted.

cheers
Steve

PS Don't tell me this was up at Whistler?

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi Jamie, is there anyway you could post the image bigger within the guidelines sizes, as at this size it is very difficult to pass on any feedback/comments relating to the image posted.

cheers
Steve

PS Don't tell me this was up at Whistler?

Thanks Steve and here is a 1020x663 repost. These are the local black bears but I do hope to get to Whistler sometime to get some images of the bears in the mtn meadows.

Thanks

Jamie

[Steve Kaluski]

Thanks for the repost Jamie, however one last question. Is this a crop from the original or as is?

Know the area very well, well winter time that is. Saw the bears playing up there when the Roundhouse was being built many years ago. I think Jeff Turner has been doing a lot up there of the years too.

[Jamie Douglas]

Thanks for the repost Jamie, however one last question. Is this a crop from the original or as is?

Know the area very well, well winter time that is. Saw the bears playing up there when the Roundhouse was being built many years ago. I think Jeff Turner has been doing a lot up there of the years too.

It was Jeff's BBC work with the Black Bears in Whistler (quite a few years ago) that got me interested in them. This was long before I picked up a camera or moved to Canada.

The above is a crop so I have included the orginal. It was an overcast evening with very light rain.

I here they still like the roundhouse area so I will need to get up there one day.

[Rachel Hollander]

Jamie - I like the inquisitive look of the bear and the grass in the mouth of the one on the rhs. It looks to me like the you needed a bit more DOF to get both of them sharp and that shows up more with the substantial crop. Maybe less of a crop, taken mostly from the rhs will work better. Looking forward to seeing more.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jamie Douglas]

Thank you Rachel. I am going to spend a few hours today working on this.

Jamie

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Jamie, if you have worked with bears before then you know the do's & don'ts.

I like the crop, but as Rachel has mentioned the quality has suffered due to a substantial crop, plus agree on less on the RHS. The light grass can also be an issue and can become a distraction, but hopefully you will have new grass & flowers soon. A little NR just on the BG wouldn't hurt either. I think you have done well under the circumstances and look forward to more soon.

If the 400 is your longst lens then you may wish to think about using an extender as it will give you a longer reach (closer in to your subject without disturbing them too much), but sadly the trade off is lost stops. The reason I say this is you want to be able to have good enough IQ without having to do large crops, ie try to crop/frame within camera, but give yourself a little extra all around for final cropping. Try to get lower to the ground, but always make sure the bears know where you are at all times so they do not get spooked, but you too need to be aware of others lurking. Don't be affraid to raise the ISO, but try to get the highest SS you can without again, loosing quality. Shooting two bears may/will possible require more f/stop ie f/16 (depending on their position etc), so perhaps go for single bears where f/5.6 or 7.1 will be good enough and you keep you speed high. Also if the subject is far enough away from the BG surroundings shooting at f/5.6 will help defuse the BG nicely.

Good luck.

TFS
Steve

[Jamie Douglas]

Hi Jamie, if you have worked with bears before then you know the do's & don'ts.

I like the crop, but as Rachel has mentioned the quality has suffered due to a substantial crop, plus agree on less on the RHS. The light grass can also be an issue and can become a distraction, but hopefully you will have new grass & flowers soon. A little NR just on the BG wouldn't hurt either. I think you have done well under the circumstances and look forward to more soon.

If the 400 is your longst lens then you may wish to think about using an extender as it will give you a longer reach (closer in to your subject without disturbing them too much), but sadly the trade off is lost stops. The reason I say this is you want to be able to have good enough IQ without having to do large crops, ie try to crop/frame within camera, but give yourself a little extra all around for final cropping. Try to get lower to the ground, but always make sure the bears know where you are at all times so they do not get spooked, but you too need to be aware of others lurking. Don't be affraid to raise the ISO, but try to get the highest SS you can without again, loosing quality. Shooting two bears may/will possible require more f/stop ie f/16 (depending on their position etc), so perhaps go for single bears where f/5.6 or 7.1 will be good enough and you keep you speed high. Also if the subject is far enough away from the BG surroundings shooting at f/5.6 will help defuse the BG nicely.

Good luck.

TFS
Steve

Thank you Steve

I wont be pushing my luck with the bears for the sake of a photo thats for sure. So far they have been very calm around me and only checked me out a few times when I moved etc but last year one Sow gave me a posture pose so I took that as a hint and left the scene, she didnt stand up but hunched her shoulders and the ears went up. She was far away but that was enough for me. I give them a lot of space hence the need to crop.

The chance that one might creep up on me makes me nervous enough to keep checking and making a little noise now and again.

I'll try using a 1.4x the next time I go out. I got some good results at ISO1250 but the SS was at least 1/200 and lens was mounted on a tripod.

Thanks again Steve

Jamie

[Pieter de Waal]

I like the expressions that you have captured on these two Jaimie. All else has been covered above.TFS