Black Bear

embender

I've been lurking for a while, and I thought it was time to join in the fun. I'm a beginner, a rank novice, but I hope to improve as I begin to uncover the finer points of this complex art called photography. Having dabbled with a film SLR 25 years ago, I found myself bitten by the bug yet again after a long hiatus and I recently picked up my first modern dSLR. There is so much to learn. Gotta start somewhere, though, right? So with that in mind, this is my first photo posted here at dgrin. Hope you like it and comments welcome.

Photosbychuck

Hi embender,

Welcome to dgrin & Great Photo!
I would love to get a shot of a black bear.

Take Care,
Charles

Jody Melanson

Hey, it's a black and white bear!

embender

You see it, too?! Excellent. That's *exactly* what I was going for.

Photog4Christ

There's a few black bears around here I'd like to shoot with both the camera and maybe something else (they get into my trash can and toss everything down the hill!)

I live a few miles away from Shenandoah National Park and every time I go, I have asked the rangers about bears, but they never come out for portraits! Once, I did see a cub, but he just ran into the woods (probably a result of all the tourists yelling "OOOOOHHHHHH LOOOOOK A BEAR!!!!!!!!"). I wish the park would have a special time for local residents to come out and enjoy the park tourist free!

I like your "black and white bear"

embender

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. This photo is actually from the Knoxville Zoo in TN while I was on vacation with the family a few weeks ago. As such, it was shot through thick glass, which I'm sure did not help on clarity. Also, in a public place like that, there's always the problem of people getting the way, or crowding around for the best view. Given all that, I think it turned out pretty good and I really like this old fellow's pose, I think he has a lot of character - the humps on the ridge of his nose, and white makings on his forehead and the "V" of his neck with his attention focused "over there" one may be fooled into thinking it is a completely natural setting. Also, he seems quite massive for a black bear, he has a punctuated hulking presence with his massive back, neck, and shoulders forming a pleasing "arch" form. It is my favorite shot from the zoo trip.

What I did: I cropped a little off the left to remove a stump or log encroaching from that edge. Cropped along the bottom to remove the tuft of fur just to his left. Then cropped a little off the top to balance the subject after the bottom crop. Maybe it would be better to clone out the fur instead of cropping, leaving more of the bear? After that, I desaturated to B&W which I liked better for this fellow and adjusted the contrast. Unfortunately, after B&W treatment and contrast, a previously hidden window glare became highly visible and annoying in his neck and chest area, so I used a "burn" effect to selectively darken that area only. I then retouched areas of his snout to groom him up a little bit, pluck a few wayward eye brows, and clean him up just a tad. I'm using Aperture for all this, if that matters, I don't own Photoshop, but hope to add it to my toolset someday.

Given the original below, and my treatment of it above, I'm open to additional or alternate suggestions to bring out the most of this photo. I know it's not a superb photo to begin with, but I like this subject. I have included the original photo below for reference. Thanks for any suggestions.

Thwack

I like the bear, especially in black & white (and I normally don't like black & white).

I would consider cropping out the blurry tree on the right…making the picture more of a portrait (tight headshot, without cropping out any of the bear). I just find the blurry tree distracting (it has odd bokeh).

My amateur two cents,
Tim S.

embender

Thanks, Tim!

bhowdy

I also agree ... I like the bear in Black and White. It's an unusual perspective.

You should have made the run to Cades Cove while here in Knoxville ... plenty of bear activity here this summer.

Ric Grupe

I like the color version.:D

More contrast in the shadows, more saturation, and a tighter crop.



You can do better than I did working with the original file.

embender

Hey thanks, everyone. I got this printed out and framed, it turned out very nice. It's going to be a birthday gift for my Dad.