The 'Ice bear'

[Steve Kaluski]

Sorry, last one I promise, although I think Dumay has a soft spot for these bears.

Again, this was shot lying flat on the deck of the ship, lens pointed slightly down, resting on my jacket to absorb the ships engine vibrations. Would like to have had more room to the LHS, but hey that's life and a fixed lens. I had to quickly re compose as he turned to yawn.


Steve


Subject: Polar bear on pack ice yawning (Ursus maritimus)
Location: Svalbard
Camera: Canon MKIII
Lens: 500f/4
Exposure: 1/640s at f4 ISO400 +0.67 stop compensation
Crop: Almost FF, slight crop (original capture vertical)

PS: Curves, Levels, own colour mix, slight USM

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Steve,
I don't think I could ever get tired of polar bears! I vote to keep them coming! You know I don't mind the tightness and the colors, light, and pose with the legs visible are fantatic! I debated lightening the face or darkening a few points behind the hump that is backlit......even make it pop more but that might overdo it......so be careful if you explore that. All in all this is fantastic and something on my must do list!

[Rachel Hollander]

Steve - Don't stop. Another fantastic image, the detail, pose, and colors all work. You should get a commission for all the BPNers you're convincing to go to Svalbard .

TFS,
Rachel

[Roger Clark]

Hi Steve,

Nice sharp image and well exposed. Imaging the shadow side is usually too high in contrast but in this case there must have been enough reflected light to fill in the shadow. The open mouth adds a lot, but I agree more space on the left would be got, though it is still a very nice image. I never let a fixed lens limit my field of view. In this case, I would have quickly locked focus and moved the field of view to the left to get the area to the left imaged. Then mosaic the 2 images later.

Roger

[DanWalters]

Love the open mouth and great detail in the whites. Agree about a little more space on the left.

[Tom Redd]

With or without more canvas to the left, this is a great shot with excellent light and detail and as said, don't stop sharing the Polar bears! Svalbard is definitely on the bucket list. TFS

[Andrew Merwin]

Hey Steve, I like the tightness of this image as it concentrates my focus on the PB. Excellent exposure here.

[Stu Bowie]

Hi Steve, good choice to shoot vertical, and well timed to get the yawn. Overall, well exposed and I like the whites. Another animal on my wish list.

[Jason Hurst]

Exquisite image, Steve! I agree with those above who commented on the excellent detail. The 1D III produces superb images!

[Steve Canuel]

Real nice Steve. Love the light on the legs and paws.

[Dumay de Boulle]

Amazing IQ and the pose is superb...You have done very well with the exp.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Excellent work here Steve...really like the pose and especially the light on the paws and their placement...
Roman's suggestion to play around with luminosity on face/rump sounds good but easy to make it look unnatural

[Harshad Barve]

I liked it very much as posted
TFS

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Steve, love the IQ and pose in this image. Excellent detail considering the bright snow BG. Keep them coming .

[Robert Amoruso]

Well done Steve for the reasons mentioned.