Bear Walking upstream

She looks a little worried with her ears back like that. I wonder if you could tone down the bright area on the right?

This image scares me just thinking about what could have happened. Your in-the-water perspective, and closeness to danger overtook any thoughts of blown highlights or technical faults. Wow (you must be completely out of your mind)!

Great perspective and eye contact Neil. It's a shame the ears are pointing backwards though, I'd prefer to see them in the 'open' forward position. In terms of composition I'd be tempted to crop off a slice from the right, both to reduce the bright area there and to move the bear more off-center.

When I looked at the large version, I noticed a linear structure in the background. At first I thought it might be rain, but then I saw that something similar is happening in your other bear shot (in particular to the right of the head of the lightest bear). It's obviously the bokeh of this lens and I wonder if this only happens with grasslike backgrounds or with other backgrounds as well?

Thanks Marsel,
You really do have an incredible eye for detail.
Upon further investigation, I've discovered that it is, in fact, on several different camera/lens set-ups. 400 2.8 straight, with extenders. 70-200 2.8 straight , with extenders. Ouch!!!!!!
The rest of the story and analysis.
The only time I've been wetter than this trip, I've been swimming. Even with all the protection and care, I think what you discovered for me is condensation on the sensor problem. It would appear that the images affected were all in extremely moist, high humidity situations and is more apparent with certain types of backgrounds than others. Weird in that it shows up and then dries and disappears. The Canon 20D has performed very well for us, a real workhorse (we have 7) in extreme conditions at the ski area in winter. I'm comfortable cleaning sensors ( 3 years in a camera repair shop). The pattern suggest a less than perfect sensor cleaning on my part. Double ouch!!!
As to the bears ears! We encountered her several times and she walked around with them back like that most of the time without being menacing. A red flag warning usually and more than a little unnerving for me in this first encounter. My more bear experienced companions assured me she was fine and, in fact, came to within 30 feet of us while we were taking a break one day, lied down, and took a nap in front of us. Her ears in that position most of the time.
Thanks for your input and I'll look forward to many more encounters.
Neil

Hi Neil,

I'm jumping in here a bit late...but still have a little new to add. I like the determined "gestalt" this bear is exhibiting - looks like it's going to make it upstream regardless of the obstacles...

Like the others, I find the bright patches along the bottom and right side on the distracting side and my first thought would have been to slice of a thin bit along the bottom and a little more off the right side (similar to what Marsel suggested). On my monitor the details in both the right side of the bear's head (left side of image) and chest region look a little too lost to shadow for my taste. I know very little about the files created the 20D, but I'm guessing that at such a low ISO some of this detail should be "extractable" without producing too much noise. I'm not talking about a major bump in exposure in these regions, definitely less than a stop (and, of course, it would need to be well-balanced).

I find the vertical banding that you and Marsel are discussing interesting, particularly if they are a function of shooting in moist conditions. I shoot in very moist conditions a lot myself, but have never had this issue creep up on me - I'm wondering if it's Canon-specific (or model-specific, or simply just your particular camera). I'll keep my eyes open for this issue among those who travel with me to the northern coast...

Cheers...thanks for sharing this...

Brad

Another really great shot. I noticed the laid back ears also but wondered if it wasn't her natural position which you say in the comments. great details.

First, I really like the photo. Such an intimate view, you can see the bow wave he's pushing up, the expression in the eyes and ears, the diameter of his nares, very cool. Friendly and relaxed or not, I would say you were still too close - just my opinion. I used to use my 70-200 VR Nikkor with the Nikon 2X a lot, sometimes I would see unusual lines in the the background; the 2X I concluded is hard on bokeh at least in the Nikon world. Doesn't explain the lines on the straight 400 etc. though.