Advice needed for photographing Bears

[Brownbear]

Bruce.... Thank you. Capturing the personality is a very nice compliment.

Dan... Thank you for your feedback and kind words. Truly appreciated. Your suggestion to zoom in on the bears and eliminate as much of the water as possible was very helpful. Also thank you for letting me know which shots are overexposed... Bears are new to me so figuring out how their fur looks in real life is a bit of a challenge. I believe that I have lots of room to pull back the exposure.

I will return on a cloudy day and try for softer lighting and that silky, soft light fur that I see in your bear photos and Manfred's bear photo posted here.

Ken... Thank you so much.

Yes, my plan is to get back to those LR tutorials and finish them all, and try your sample edit. When I received my new camera I got off track. I've been taking too many photos and my hard drive is full up with bears.

In my dreams, and perhaps one day as fortunate enough to be receiving advice from Dan whose photos could easily grace the pages of National Geographic..

PS National Geographic allows only basic edits...

Thank you to all

[splashy]

This was well worth the 1.5 hours trip. amazing pictures the 'best' is nr 3, BUT most of the others are very good, so making a selection is hard, I like the ones where they lay in the water, but I love the close ups also.
They seem like I can touch them.

Thanks for posting.

[Brownbear]

Thank you Splashy... Your kind words are truly appreciated. I think I like #3 best too... Yes, they do look cuddly. When they come out for a swim I can get quite close to the bears.

And to demonstrate that I do work on all the great advice that I receive from members of C&C

Dan... Here is the bear with the exposure decreased in LR, thank you for advising me on this.

#23-1


Ken here is your edit...

I followed your steps exactly in LR... (I don't have the other programs you have) I must say I was mighty surprised to see what you did to the photo because it seemed to me that everything you did contradicted what I have read in books. And how much you increased the shadows but in the end I saw that your histogram was a good one with no clipping. It was a very good lesson in editing for me. Thank you.

#23-2


It was a tad colourful for my personal tastes so I toned it down a bit. Although it will never be a great photo full size, small size it's cute... Thank you, Ken.

#23-3


Here are a couple of other photos from yesterday where I decreased the exposure in LR.. I have learned that it is a bit better to expose a bit to the right then to underexpose..


#23-4



#23-5


Thank you to all for your help and advice. I have a lot more bears but don't worry I don't have time to post all of them.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Christina,

I don't mind the pictures, but I was losing the plot trying to reference to them, so I took a liberty and numbered them for you.

For me, at the moment, the shots I find more appealing are those where; we can see the (lit) eyes AND
the claws are in shot, OR it is otherwise interacting with the environment/doing something - even if that is just yawning/growling or fly swatting

My favourites in order are; #17-7 (like this most), #17-10, #17-3, #23-5, #23-1, #17-14, #23-4 (perhaps without bright rock?)

These are, like your last series with herons, much better than earlier, we see real progress, well done - you stick at something until you're better than me.

[Brownbear]

Hi Dave,

Sorry for posting so many, and creating extra work for you. If I ever post so many again, I will number them. Thank you for doing that.

And thank you for letting me know which ones you prefer. Truly helpful to know.

Thank you. I've learned so much from this forum and I'm very appreciative of all the help I've received from everyone, including you on every topic under the sun. (I've a ways to go yet, but for sure I will keep trying)

[Mike Buckley]

I've a ways to go yet

Not as far as you used to have.

[Brownbear]

As promised I returned to visit my bears on a cloudy day...

Yes, it is much easier to photograph them on a cloudy day... But as I suspected they stayed out of the water, one went in for about two minutes but that's it. So I had to balance myself on my usual fence post and shoot through the hole in the fence but no harsh shadows Thank you

I will return again on another cloudy day and try again for the bear looking into the camera but will post those on a new thread... ie; time to end this thread but I wanted to show that I listen to the advise I receive.


Manual, Matrix Metering SS 1250 auto iso (3200) no exposure comp F4 because I wanted to blur the background














The line on the top of the photo is the reflection of the wire fence... I tried to heal it but it looked odd so I left it as is..








These ones were taken with my Nikon D80, more noise at iso 320 than iso 3200 on my Nikon 7100 which I find amazing. The first photo I denoised lightly using Topaz but while pretty it does not look real to me, ie processed so I posted the noisy one, too...

Shutter Priority 1250 Matrix Metering iso 320 No exp comp









Just for fun

[Colin Southern]

Best advice I was ever given was "don't use flash".

I'm also reminded of the following ...

"The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.
They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.
Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear's sensitive nose and it will run away.
It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.
Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper."

[NorthernFocus]

I'm glad the park service finally added the scat ID method to their literature. Up here we've been providing that advice to tourists for years

[Cantab]

Best advice I was ever given was "don't use flash".

I'm also reminded of the following ...

"The National Park Rangers are advising hikers in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.
They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.
Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear's sensitive nose and it will run away.
It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.
Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper."

Yes, but have you heard the joke that when a bear hears bells worn by a hiker, the bear thinks: "Oh goodie. Here comes lunch."

[Cantab]

Christina, thanks for posting these. My favourite is the fourth one. In addition to the bears, your camera did a very good job of photographing the bugs in the air. Do the bears appear to get cranky with the bugs or basically just ignore them?

[NorthernFocus]

Hey, Christina. I'm now on a machine that I can see the images. You nailed these pretty well. Exposure looks good, tack sharp focus, and I like the choice of aperture for the DOF. The fourth shot is quite good. There is a little room in the frame, the bear is centered and facing into some open space, both eyes are visible, and the techs are good. The only thing I can see at all is that maybe WB could be warmed up a bit. That's without looking at a histo nor seeing the real thing so could be completely off base.

It is interesting how much darker these bears are than the coastal bears up here. They are really beautiful with the contrasting fur colors.

[Manfred M]

Nice shots Christina - the diffuse lighting really brings out the details and texture in the bears.

[Colin Southern]

I'm glad the park service finally added the scat ID method to their literature. Up here we've been providing that advice to tourists for years

As far as bears go, you folks are welcome to them. The best defense against a bear that I know of is 500 yards and increasing! They rank right up there on a short list of wild animals that I have the utmost respect for (in terms of my personal health and welfare).

[Brownbear]

Thank you to all for your replies.

Collin... I just noticed this... LOL

"Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper."

I photographed these bears at a wildlife sanctuary on Grouse Mountain. They have 5 acres of forested land for these two orphaned bears that could not be returned to the wild. There is a 2 meter electric chain link fence around the sanctuary plus a moat and a wooden fence, so I am not in any danger. We have bears wandering around the North Shore of Vancouver but I have yet to be fortunate enough to encounter one.


Bruce...

Thank you. I am not sure but yes the flies seem to irritate the bears a little bit. They are always shaking their heads but it could be that they are eating the flies.. The flies certainly bug me. Lots of them around.

Dan

Thank you Figuring out WB is my nemesis! I used auto WB in camera and auto WB +200 points in LR. I tried shade and cloudy and liked them but I was not sure if they were too warm and truly representative... They should have a slider for overcast. I will fiddle with one of the photos and repost later today..

Thank you for the very helpful critique. Although I think I like the 3rd image best (for the mood) your critique lets me know what to strive for. I tried to will the bears to look at me but they were out for a very brief ten minutes before heading off for a 5 hour nap. There is no doubt that I will try again on another cloudy day.

Yes, they are very dark and beautiful.. The darkness of their fur varies quite a bit depending on the area, ie lighter on their upper backs, noses, and parts of their bellies.

Manfred,

Thank you. Yes, and their fur is more silky looking and soft. I've always been of the mind to photograph wildlife in bright sunlight with blue skies and water, but I am going to try more cloudy day photography, for birds, too.

[Brownbear]

Here is my bear edit, WB set to sunny and the highlights decreased about 19 because the background looked a bit yellow.




I think it works and is true to colour?

Thank you.

[NorthernFocus]

As far as bears go, you folks are welcome to them. The best defense against a bear that I know of is 500 yards and increasing! They rank right up there on a short list of wild animals that I have the utmost respect for (in terms of my personal health and welfare).

Yeah bears are great when you're looking at them from a boat or some other kind of situation where there is a reasonable safety barrier between you and them. It's not so cool when they come find you on their terms...

Last November on the morning after our first snow of the season that stayed on the ground, my wife and I stepped out the side door of my house to take our pup for a walk and found these three feet from the door. No C/C on the photos please, they were taken with a cell phone.



I love the look on Grace's face. Like she's saying "what do you want me to do about it?"



A couple of nights prior presumably the same brown bear climbed onto the porch of the neighbors behind us to raid their bird feeder. In our neighborhood people only put feeders out when the bears have gone to sleep for the winter but this bear was still up and about for some reason. Then a couple of days after we found the tracks, the bear raided a couple of houses, pushing in the garage doors to get at the garbage cans and dog food. It eventually got shot during yet another B and E attempt.

Sorry for jumping in on your thread, Christina....

[Brownbear]

Indeed, that looks like it was one mighty big bear.

Dan, you are most welcome (as is anyone else) to jump in on my threads. It means that I will learn something new or that a smile will be put on my face.

I don't have any wild bear paw photos but a few years ago, my husband and I took my Mom camping (her first and last camping trip) because when we returned from a small hike a black bear had laid claim to our campsite. (the food was tied up in a tree) We tried to scare the bear away but it refused to move, so we packed up our campsite in five minutes flat, a process which involved throwing our tent and sleeping backs into the canoe and paddling away. We left a few things behind.

Also, a few years ago while walking my dog Tippy on a forest trail close to the city I spotted what I thought was a big, beautiful black Newfie dog, off leash with no owner in sight. Thinking I had found a new pal for Tippy I walked toward the beauty in the forest only to discover it was a big black bear, so I backed up slowly along the trail until the bear was out of sight and ran all the way home with my Tippy.

Those were in my "vacation only" photography days, so I still don't have any photos of bears in the wild, but I have had a couple of close encounters.

[Dave Humphries]

Good results Christina,

#27-4 and "Just for Fun" (#27-9, I think) are my favourites.

Well done, the diffuse light certainly suits the fur.