A young (probably 3 yrs old) sow Brown Bear, feeding on salmon, almost under the water fall at low tide. It looked like she was coming out of a cave. It was extremely harsh, early morning direct sunlight with extremely dark shadows and intense contrast but the spotlight on her face made up for all that.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
When processing this photo I didn’t try to bring too much detail out of the shadows because I think it wasn’t important for the scene and actually would have distracted from the dramatic lighting. I would welcome an opinion on that decision.
Technical Details
Sony a6500, FE200600G @ 600 mm (900mm w/crop factor), ISO-320, f/6.3, 1/1250, hand held.
I’ll preface my comment by saying that I am not a wildlife photographer. I am, however, obsessed with bears. This image is outstanding, @Gary_Minish. The strong contrast works so well with the spotlighting on the bears face. Something about the drops of water frozen in mid-air add a dynamic element, too. Outstanding!
Wow…such a dramatic shot with the light and all. What a cool moment to witness, see and capture.
This image appeals to me because I am super curious about what she is doing and the environment she is in. You can get a lot of mileage out of this one image. I could also see a vertical crop that brings the waterfall back in. And a wider crop showing her size and relationship to the place she is in.
One thing I would suggest is getting that shutter speed up so the water droplets are even more sharp. You’ve got a good camera sensor and can play with that ISO…I know lots of people don’t believe in higher ISO’s but it is so easy to eliminate noise these days.
You shot this wide open and I cannot totally tell online but is part of her coat soft? With furry animals I like a bit more DOF because they tend to not look sharp when the are. Again, if you give yourself more ISO you can have more shutter and more DOF.
The lighting on this is super dramatic and hits her head…amazing. If you want to play with an advanced move, you can get some luminosity masks and make this image pop. They have a learning curve but this is the kind of image I would spend extra time making it even more dramatic.
I agree not to pull those shadows out…the dramatic nature of the shadows and lights make this a unique image. Keep it that way!
Overall, this is well shot. The dramatic light makes it more interesting.
