Claws & Berries

Gallery: WildlifePosted October 22, 2012113 views2 comments

I love to watch Grizzly bears eating berries, the way that they can carefully manipulate the tiny fruits with their massive claws is just incredible. The usual wildlife photography obstacles arose when creating this photo - the light was constantly changing from dark and cloudy to ridiculously bright and sunny and there seemed to be shrubs or blades of grass (like the one running up the nose in this shot) in the way nearly all of the time.

As always, comments & suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis)
Denali National Park, Alaska
Canon T1i
Canon 100-400 @ 400mm
1/1250 sec @ f5.6
iso 200

Comments

2 comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on October 22, 2012 at 11:35 PM

Yep, the usual challenging conditions all right. Still I really like the feeding behaviour and the colorful berries and foliage are attractive in the scene. The head makes a nice diagonal in the frame as well. Did you try and reduce the contrast or elevate the shadows to show the face a little more?

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

Comment posted by Brad Hill on October 26, 2012 at 8:25 AM

Hi Guy,

Yes, I totally agree with how amazing it is that these bears can manipulate small objects with those massive claws - you should see how they use their claws (and almost rubber lips) to open up and get at small clams.

Pity that the light was so bright, but you still managed to capture the key element to this shot - the berries and those huge claws. Those ear "tufts" and the fur on the head caught me eye too - looks just so darned "pet-able" (tho' it's about the last thing I'd ever do!).

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments