The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
I recently returned from Katmai, where I had a chance to photograph brown bears catching sockeye salmon during their spawning run. There was plenty of action, but the bears weren’t exactly posing for us most of the time. They either caught their fish further away, or turned around and decided not to show us their prize much of the time.
So it was incredible luck to have one of the best/closest catch sequences involve what was probably the most unique bear we saw (out of 150-200 individuals): a white yearling cub. In fact, we didn’t see any other young bear come close to catching its own fish… but this one pulled it off. Of course, it was too young to really tear into its prize like the adults do, so instead the cub played around with it for a bit before going to see what its mother was up to. Nonetheless, the contrast of red fish with white fur was pretty special, and the encounter was probably my highlight of the trip.
Technical Details
Camera: Canon EOS R5m2
Lens: RF600mm F4 L IS USM
Focal length: 600mm
Shutter speed: 1/2000s
Aperture: f/4
ISO: 1600
I do have a series of shots with the full body. In this case, the original frame contains the full bear, but I didn’t like the distracting line of the horizon (which, as you can see, cuts behind the bear’s head) and more of the dark rocks below, so I chose to tighten the focus on the paw and faces of the bear and fish.
My favorite image from the series comes during a more playful moment. I’m sure I’ll share it here at some point (probably at the end of the year), but you can see that and other images from this trip on my website.
What a great photo! Aside from the “life and death” story it tells, I really like the fact that you can draw a line from the bear’s eyes to the eyes of the salmon. I also like the clarity of the fur on top of the bear. My only suggestion would be to perhaps not crop as tight, but either way this is a fabulous photo!
Stunning image. The eye contact and the very protective gesture makes me think the cub sure didn’t want anyone else taking his meal. The detail in the fur is very cool too. Can’t think of much else to say, but what a great shot.
Mike, it’s not an albino. If anything, it might be considered leucistic, as leucistic mammals do have white fur but dark facial features. The spirit bears of British Columbia—a white phase black bear with a recessive gene—also have dark eyes while sporting white (and peach-toned) fur. This might be considered closer to that, or perhaps the grizzlies seen in Alberta that also had white fur in recent years. At least one of those grizzlies was white all the way to adulthood (both it and its white cub were struck and killed by a vehicle, unfortunately), so it will be interesting to see if this bear maintains its lighter coloration or gradually gets a little darker as it ages.
We did see bears with a wide variety of tones, including another yearling cub that was significantly lighter than most of the bears, but not quite as white as this one. To differentiate them, some referred to it as the “silver” cub versus this “white” cub.
Fantastic Max. I found myself enjoying the image for quite some time, as there are a lot of aspects: the rare white bear, the bears eyes and of course the action. I don’t think you need to worry about the horizon line too much. I see your point, but its pretty subtle. I do wish the water in the foreground was not over exposed. Its a great shot and that is only a small detail. Congrats on the capture.
A stunning portrait; very compelling subject. So this isn’t a spirit bear, but a white brown bear? Such a unique opportunity and you didn’t waste it. Like other statements, I would have liked a bit of real estate around the bear.
I want to commend you on a splendid achievement., It’s a perfect example of using advanced photographic skills to capture not only an arresting image but also to illustrate genuinely interesting natural history. There might be some small opportunities to improve composition, but those are insignificant compared to what you’ve accomplished.
Love this image. I have photographed the brown bear inn Alaska several times and I know we are always looking for that great full body image with a salmon. You nailed it with the closeup crop here. You could always do a small linear gradient on the bottom to tone down the water ever so slightly. Still a beauty as presented. Look forward to seeing more.
Very strong image, Max, and great story around it, plus of course the uniqueness of the white cub. Horizon line is a non-issue, given where it’s placed and provides environmental context that actually helps the image. You might consider a slightly tighter crop for two reasons. One, it keeps my eyes circling inside the image, while your crop has a line leading me out of the image (the torso past front legs). Two, the story to me is about the interaction between the cub and the fish and secondary about the eye contact with the cub, both don’t require the area I cropped off, and hence dilute it unnecessarily. My subjective preference. Also, being obsessed with keeping the edges quiet, this helps the lower right edge. Would carefully crop between the water droplets on top, so none of them sit right by the edge of the frame. I didn’t do it very carefully.
Steffen, I do like the suggestion. I’m usually loathe to leave that gap behind the legs on “front half” views of my subjects, so we’re on the same page (and it obviously gets rid of more of the dark rock tones). Honestly, not sure about my remaining pixels on this one, but it likely still works with the added crop.
