From all sides...

Hi Jorne,
First of all this is a fine image that most of us would be proud to have in our portfolios. I assume the one not posted was at least as good. Now, in response to your question, I suspect that if your goal is to impress photographers the image with the better light might be preferred. However, if your goal is to impress or sell to the general public the better situation would be better received. Personally, I would make the same choice as you.
Larry Reitz
Salem, CT

An awsome photograph that I'd love to have in my portfolio! The photo is alive and grabs your attention immidiately.
I might try to soften the hard lines on the bark pattern on the trees as it tends to draw my eye away from the bears
Congrats!!

This great! I would take this image over the previous in every aspect...i.e. I am impressed as a photographer and I think this would sell to the public better. My opinion of course, and both are sweet images that are great additions to your collection.

I would definitely darken the trees a little so they do not compete for attention with the bears. I would also tone down that white sliver in the corner of the left cub's eye as it is very stark and eye drawing (most likely a result of sharpening). I am also curious if you used a noise filter on the the entire image or if it is just the shutter speed? It looks as if the noise filter smoothed and softened the noses of the bears and you lost some of the sharpness on them. If it is a noise filter issue, I would sgo in and selectivly mask areas that need noise reduction to preserve the detail on the bears.

I hope this helps as this is a great image!

Thanks for the great comments guys, very usefull stuff!!

Anthony:

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitly try your suggestions about the trees and the eye. The snout is due to ss I'm afraid, she was quite restless when the shot was taken and my ss was quite low, and it was the reason why I almost sent this one to the trash can, but I could not pass up on the poses. I did run a selective noise filter btw, but I don't use photoshop for that

Will do a repost later today with some of the suggested changes!

Did a quick rework, sadly no fix for the noses.

I like this one a lot, Jorne. Having the family in one frame tells more of story. As for processing, I'd probably apply a slight grad to darken the bottom third, or a brush (or Vivez or whatever) to burn the brightness of the FG cub... Edit - it looks like perhaps you have done some of that in the second version.

Killer shot, after the edit!
Now I REALLY wish I had this in my portfolio!!

I like the second post much better, but I do agree with Scott that maybe a little burning on that tree root and foreground would help a little. Great stuff!

Great image Jorne. Fantastic that you got all three in one frame, all in different poses with the eyes visible and looking in different directions. But what I like most is how they are framed between the 3 trees. In that respect I wish you had included a tiny bit more of the tree on the left to make this framing effect even stronger.
Re your ligh vs situation question; even though I love good light and feel it can make or break an image, it is no use having great light and a horrible situation. Therefore it is better IMO to have a good situation, AS LONG AS the light is not completely dreadful! And that is certainly not the case here, so I think you made the right choice. Well done.

Great shot as is. Not easy to get animals togather for group shots and even harder for great ones.

Hey Jorne,

I like this a lot, regardless of the lot. The repost is better, IMO, but I might try removing a little red or magenta from the file.

Cheers

Carl

The group pose is wonderful. Getting groups of animals into a composition is almost always an exercise in frustration. Are these trained studio bears that take stage direction??

"You, stand upright and look that way. And you, lean on the tree. And you, down on all fours, but give us a head turn with 'eye.'"

I agree somewhat with Vincent regarding the left tree, but overall this came out darn good! Congrats on a special capture.

What catches my eye is the fact that you have got them all in different poses, and each one a little higher than the other. And, I'll go for situations over lighting anytime. But, that is because I am not a professional photographer who sells his images, but a rank amateur who just loves to be in the jungle, and if anything interesting were to come around, I'll try and capture it on 'film'.

Hi Jorne,

A fun and interesting shot! Like many of the others I like how the bears are looking in different directions and catching the eyes of ALL your subjects in a group shot is always a huge challenge (think of how many family portraits have someone blinking!). Well done.

Regarding your question "... do you pick the image with the better light OR, the image with the better situation?" The answer is obvious - RAISE YOUR BAR and get BOTH! Strive for that perfect image - setting your sights on one or the other can be the first step in complacency. The beauty of photography is that the "best" image of anything can always be the next one shot, and if you set your standards high enough that "best" shot may just be yours (until, of course, the next person comes along and captures a better one!).

But, if you aren't able to get both great lighting and a great situation in a single frame - which is best? You know, this varies so much on a case-by-case scenario that I find it impossible to generalize and take a stance. Which is another reason to settle for nothing but both!

Cheers...

Brad

PS: On my monitor the bark on the trees looks oversharpened, especially that right-most tree in the larger version. Wouldn't be a problem with a print, but you might consider adjusting this for any further online viewing this image may get...

Thanks again all!

Brad, good to keep me on my toes, I'll never grow complacent like this (thank you!)