Patience is a virtue

What a beautiful image Stephen, everything from the composition to the sharpness in the fur, and such a wonderfully endearing pose, very well done :^)

One funny thing about this is that I just stopped myself from reaching for my soft cloth to clean what I saw as tiny spot on my monitor, when I realised those are actually in your photo - LOL ;^) I guess what I'm seeing as tiny spots are in fact actually midges or other insects flying close to the bear in the upper portion of the frame, rather than dust spots on your lens :^)

Real pleasure to look and thanks for sharing :^)

Kind regards,

Ashley

The larger photo is absolutely stunning, Steve! What a lovely pose!

HI Steve,

Very nice light and, at least for me, the overall colour palette works well. I like the rim lighting on the bear. And, the pose is both intriguing ("what's it doing?") and a tad cute. The bright band that intersects with his paw is a little distracting to me but there was little you do about that (in the field or in post-processing).

You might cringe a little with my next comment - on my monitor(s) the bear looks very slightly over-sharpened to me. This is most noticeable on the fur in the shoulder region (on the standard sized version) and along the brighter portions of the lower back on the larger version. It's minor and, as we've previously discussed, something that varies a little with the resolution (dot pitch) of the monitor being used to view the image. Fur - and especially wet fur - shows sharpening effects as disproportionately fast as fine grass does (compared to areas lacking fine lines). But that's it - no more comments from me about sharpening - don't want to bore you to death!

Overall a very pleasing image to view - thanks for sharing it!

Brad

Appreciate the feedback & comment Ashley & Ajit Ashley you never see them in the viewfinder, it's only at print or at PP do you eventually see them. To be honest I leave them in come what may it print or press, but some may feel they should be removed for distracting POV.

You might cringe a little with my next comment - LOL Brad Ironic the issue I have with others elsewhere is too little sharpening. I might revert back to my 'old way' as that seems to be the best, although the images are 50/50 with the comments, but both Forums pick up on different areas, interesting.

Brad will drop you a PM later if I may.

cheers & thanks again.

Steve

I like this very much Steve. The quality and direction of light, the pose and the rich colours all take me right there with you.

I love the layering in the background too. (Thanks for the link by the way!)

Good one Steve - it's nice to see you managed to keep the head below the horizon line. Funny pose, almost like a very shy hello.

The pose makes it for me! I like the angle of the light and your handling of the shadowed areas.

Wonderful detail on the larger version. I like the composition with the one paw raised up and the layered background adds to the overall image. Interesting to hear the story to go along with the image. I always appreciate a good bear image and this is certainly one of those, well done.

I love his pose! I really like the detail in his fur, the composition, and the setting is very cool! Awesome image!