Grass Eater

It doesn't look like this guy (gal) has missed many meals. I long for a better look at the eyes. Black bears are notoriously difficult to expose properly. I would see if there are any highlights to be brought out in the dark areas of the face. Nice capture. I'd love to be this close to a beautiful black bear like this.

Nice detail on a tough exposure here Dennis, I would try to pull a little more light out of the left eye.

Hi Dennis,

Yep, eating grass is what these guys do a LOT of! As Nate pointed out, some nice detail here. It does look like you were dealing with some pretty flat light here - that's good for capturing colour and all the shadow and highlight detail, but makes catching light in the eye of black bears real tough (on average I've found that catching black bear's eyes just right is tougher than catching grizzly's eyes). I get the feeling you were quite constrained when you shot this (no way you could change the angle you were shooting at, etc.) - given that I think you did a good job of working with what you had.

Cheers...

Brad

PS: I've picked up on the "undercurrent" you've had in recent posts about photographers interfering with and kind of hassling wildlife. Have to say I agree and in recent years I've seen way too many actions by photographers (often - but not always - the point & shooters who just shoot casually) that are downright embarrassing and make me reluctant to tell folks I'm a wildlife photographer! I'm just hoping that the current "selfie" trend doesn't start extending to "selfies with grizzlies" (or any other species of wildlife that could be potentially dangerous).

Nicely exposed, great details Dennis.. so that's what ya call a grass eater?
Always wondered about that
Well done & have a great weekend!