Waterton Cub + REPOST

Gallery: WildlifePosted July 19, 2011162 views8 comments

Hi everyone! We went to Waterton yesterday to look for some bears (we ended the day with 9 different bears) to photograph. My family and I had spotted this bear the week before and knew she had cubs, but then when we saw her yesterday we didn't see the cubs. We started looking in the trees and finally spotted them running out of the forest to their mom. The mom is a very interesting colour; she is black with a brown stripe across her back!

The mom had crossed the road and the cubs were still on the other side. My dad kept saying "get ready, get ready", so I quickly moved the camera to where they were headed and saw them walk into the viewfinder. This cub walked up on to a log and posed, and I just let my camera motor go as fast as it could! I was so glad that it turned out this sharp at ISO 800.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions!

Nikon D300
Nikkor 300mm f/4 AF-S
ISO 800
1/50sec @ f/4
beanbag mounted from truck window
approximately 85% of original

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on July 19, 2011 at 4:15 PM

Jenaya, great pose and eye contact! I love the innocent look of the cub. The vertical image feels a bit cramped to me, but others may feel differently. I like your nice, easy back story as well. You have a very nice conversational writing style. Keep on clickin'.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on July 19, 2011 at 7:34 PM

Love this setting and comp Janaya, great direct eye contact. Sharp details and well exposed too (flash?)
Only suggestions would be to clone over that small bright area upper off-center RT, and perhaps the stick RT side depending on far you would want to go with it..Or not

Very nice as posted

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on July 20, 2011 at 2:26 AM

Way to go Jenaya

Great photo of this curious looking youngster. Excellent eye contact and detail in the fur. I like the way the oof foreground leads my eye to the cub. Sweet Photo

Ken Archer

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

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on July 20, 2011 at 12:26 PM

Great looking cub, Jenaya, and I like your choice of exposure. My only tweak would be to crop from the bottom to remove some of the oof area, perhaps to a 4x5 ratio image.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on July 20, 2011 at 2:42 PM

Thanks for the comments everyone!

I took your advice and decided to do a repost.

Howard, you thought I should do something about the bright area on top and Lon thought I should do something about the oof vegetation. So I cropped to horizontal and that took care of most of the bright spots and the oof vegetation. I hope you like it!

Oh yah, Howard, you were also wondering if I used flash. I didn't use any flash, and I was really surprised that the exposure turned out so good for the low light conditions.

Thanks again!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Hackley on July 20, 2011 at 4:44 PM

Sounds like a wonderful experience and good patience to get this, I like the repost better, way to go, well done.

Registered on September 17, 2009, 302 Posts, 5535 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on July 21, 2011 at 5:42 PM

Both shots are really nice. The eye contact is terrific and you've managed to hold the texture in the dark fur. Overall, I like the vertical comp better. I think it focuses more on the bear. Maybe a partial crop of the oof foreground.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on July 24, 2011 at 8:36 PM

I quite like both of the crop here Jenaya, well done, great eye contact from the cub.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments