Going Down?

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 9, 2011208 views11 comments

A shot from Yellowstone taken in May of 2009. There was quite a bear jam near the Yellowstone Picnic Area, watching a sow with two cubs. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you were there, given the size of the crowd.

Canon 40D
Canon 500mm f/4 IS + 1.4x TC
ISO 800
1/320th
f/5.6

Max

Comments

11 comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on January 9, 2011 at 8:29 PM

Super cute pose here Max. I like the composition a lot, there are some interesting triangular shapes created by the bear, tree and negative space. A bit of noise visible in the background, easily remedied. Excellent photo. Thanks for posting this, made me smile.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Sally King on January 9, 2011 at 10:37 PM

Love the look this cub is giving the camera. I am always amazed at how good of climbers these little guys are even when very young.

Registered on December 2, 2008, 416 Posts, 4450 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on January 9, 2011 at 11:32 PM

A Cutie! Nice position of the cub on the tree, and nice eye contact.!
Noise issues already mentioned.
Not sure the white bits on the fur add anything - I'd personally clean them up.
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on January 10, 2011 at 8:22 AM

Great pose and awesome moment captured Max! I am in complete agreement with Sally on this one. I would also clean up the fur in this, it would make more impact and definitely run this through some NR....this shot is totally worth spending the extra time on

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Olsen on January 10, 2011 at 10:44 AM

Wonderful pose on this cute little bear.
Great catchlight in the eyes.
NR already mentioned in the bg.
I might be tempted to clone out the bg branch as it's a little distracting.
I'd love to have this in my files!!..a 10 on the cute factor!

Registered on October 19, 2006, 306 Posts, 1571 Comments

Comment posted by Oscar Benavides on January 10, 2011 at 4:38 PM

What a beautiful animal!. I really like the way he is looking at you.

Registered on January 2, 2011, 12 Posts, 141 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on January 10, 2011 at 8:18 PM

One of those, oh-so-chweet images!

Registered on December 19, 2008, 302 Posts, 2055 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on January 10, 2011 at 11:37 PM

I love the tree clinging pose Max and the detail in the blacks is good. Did you use fill flash here? I can understand the suggestion to clean up the fur, but think that on a large version the need might not be there. The lines in the BG are a little distracting yet OOF enough not to be a major nit.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on January 11, 2011 at 1:00 AM

No fill flash, Vincent. This is something of a heavy crop, maybe 50% of the original frame, which probably explains why it's a bit grainy. I'm sure some noise reduction to the background would help.

As for the dirty fur, I'm usually not a "clone it out!" type of guy unless I'm making an illustration. I usually lean toward more of an "editorial" approach to these photos (i.e., keep it the way you saw it), so that often means I'll leave the messy stuff in there.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 12, 2011 at 3:27 AM

Super Cute

Nice work Max!!!

Ken Archer

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on January 12, 2011 at 8:31 AM

übercute, so I can understand the large crowd - who would not stop for a scene like this?

I fully respect your preference to go for the editorial approach, but for me the oof branches in the bg are distracting, as are the white bits on the fur. A slight crop off the top of the shot will remove the dark and bright bits in the ULC.

Hope that helps.

Registered on March 9, 2004, 285 Posts, 2277 Comments