Bashful Bruin

Bashful Bruin

When you're over two meters tall and weigh over 200 kg (that's about 450 lb for those of you south of the border!), it's kinda hard to hide behind a few small leaves. But that didn't stop this bear from trying just that!

This is one of those images that drives me a bit crazy. I go from loving the shot to being frustrated by it - every single time I look at it. The issue in my mind: do those out-of-focus leaves just below the eye constitute a major distraction or do they actually add to the image (given that the bear appears to be trying - completely in vain - to hide behind them)? I love the bear's left eye and how the bear is draping its head over its paws (and those claws work well for me too).

I have no doubt that I will be able to put this shot to good use. And it's likely it will generate at least some revenue. So it does have value.

This image points out at least one more thing worth considering - with some images there is a vast difference between how the public perceives an image vs. how other photographers perceive it. Most members of the public simply react to images - the images have an impact on them or they don't. They don't know why - and they don't care. It works or it doesn't. And, I suspect that this image would be received well by most non-photographers - the pose, and especially that eye, are powerful enough to illicit a reaction.

Many photographers, on the other hand, often like to dissect - or break down an image - into its "building blocks". This is very understandable - they're simply trying to understand why some images work and others don't. In doing so we hope to figure out what elements individually contribute to the success (or lack thereof) of a specific image. So we end up with a set of "rules" to follow when building an image - things like the "rule of thirds", using "leading lines", avoid distracting elements, etc. This dissection of an image has value. But...there is a danger to this: you can end up seeing all the individual trees but never even consider what the forest looked like! in other words, in an effort to understand what makes an image work, you can overlook the fact that it simply DOES work (and that not all images need to conform to a few simple rules of image construction).

Just some food for thought...

Subject: Adult female Grizzly (Urus arctos) facing a decision
Location: Khutzeymateen Inlet, Great Bear Rainforest, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4
Lens: Nikkor 400mm f2.8 VRII lens - hand-held. VR on and in "Normal" mode.
Exposure: 1/400s @ f7.1; ISO 3600. -0.67 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: This is about 85% of the full-framed image.

Additional details about the image (including processing details) available here:

http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/latest/detail_2.html.

Comments and critiques welcomed - definitely best to view the larger version prior to doing so!

Cheers...thanks for looking...

Brad