Morning Calm

Morning Calm

Calm bear, calm morning - and some very sweet and very soft light filtering through wispy morning fog - what more can you ask for?

This image was captured early one morning in late May of 2012. Although a simple image, it's one that's grown on me and has now been published on several different covers (of magazines, brochures, etc.).

In May the grizzlies on the northern BC coast are still focused on fattening up after their long winter nap and the highly nutritious grasses and sedges growing in the Khutzeymateen estuary draw in (and hold) a large number of bears. Most of the bears quickly work out where they sit in the local social hierarchy and most of the time it's pretty peaceful in the Khutzeymateen. But, even when calm, the bears are always vigilant and on the lookout for bears they don't know and that might be looking to shake up the status quo! And that's how I'd describe this bear - calm, but vigilant (and at the moment this image was captured something in the far distance had drawn her full attention - and it turned out it WAS a "new-to-the-estuary" bear - and one to be concerned about).

Subject: Calm but alert female grizzly (Ursus arctos)
Location: Khutzeymateen Inlet, northern Great Bear Rainforest, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D800
Lens: Nikkor 70-200mm f2.8 VRII @ 200mm - hand-held from floating zodiac. VR on and in "Normal" mode.
Exposure: 1/200s @ f8; ISO 1100. -0.33 stop compensation compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Just a small slice off the top...

A lot more details about this image - including processing details, an even larger (2400 pixel) version of the shot, and a brief discussion of the new "Shake Reduction Filter" found in Photoshop CC - can be found here on my website:

http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/latest/.

Comments and critiques welcomed - probably best to view the larger version prior to doing so!

Cheers...

Brad

PS: Like all wildlife images on my website and that I post here, the subject is fully wild and completely unconstrained. Besides the potential impact of my presence, nothing has been done to intentionally alter or affect the ongoing behavior of the subject and, of course, there has been no use of any form of bait or other form of wildlife attractants (including vocalizations).