Congestion @ the On-ramp

Congestion @ the On-ramp

One of my favorite things about the Great Bear Rainforest is that the only traffic jams you'll ever see are more likely to involve grizzlies than cars! This traffic congestion was caused by the leading cub just not being bold enough to merge off the on-ramp and onto the log bridge that spanned a deep channel in a coastal estuary. But the tail-gating little bruins here put enough forward pressure on the nervous nelly to get it to swing around and finally navigate the crossing. Now that was a sight to see (and photograph)!

Subject: Trio of Grizzly (Ursus arctos) cubs jammed up on a log bridge
Location: Great Bear Rainforest, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4
Lens: Nikkor AF-S 80-400mm VR @ 260mm. Hand-held from floating zodiac. VR on and in "Active" mode.
Exposure: 1/320s @ f6.3; ISO 1400. -0.3 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Fairly minor - this is about 85% of the full-framed image

More details about the image - including a 2400-pixel version of the image - 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 (or better yet the 2400 pixel version on my website).

NOTE: In the spirit of full disclosure (which is important to me) - in my opinion this image crosses the line from simple digital processing and/or digital correction to digital manipulation. In the original capture there was a stout stick running from the log and up to the butt of the cub that is facing to the right. It was removed during post-processing.

Cheers...

Brad