Sniffin'

Gallery: WildlifePosted September 27, 2012616 views13 comments

Hi everyone! This is Haines! He's Skagway's (the bear from my last post) bigger brother. I gotta say, this guy is my fav! He's such a good looking cub, I think he's gonna be a beauty when he's all grown up!

Haines had come down from the trees to see what he could find for food at low tide. All three orphaned cubs were down, but this guy all the sudden sat down and started to try to smell us. I just had to get that!! I captured a few images of him checking us out before he decided to continue his search for food.

I loved watching these guys, but sadly they heard a work truck at the dock behind them and decided it was time to leave. They crossed the road behind us and disappeared back into the forest. (I know someone mentioned in my last post that the mom might have been out of sight, but we watched these guys for two days over a fair distance so we're pretty sure these guys are orphans. Also the biggest cub, Klondike, seemed to have taken over the caretaking of the others.)

Thanks for looking!

Nikon D7000
Nikkor 200-400mm lens f/4 ED VR with 1.4TC @ 550mm
ISO 1000
1/100sec @ f/8
cloned out small distracting white spot on his lip
resting on beanbag on vehicle window

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on September 27, 2012 at 3:19 PM

I like this better than your picture of Skagway. Less cute and more bear! A lovely and natural composition.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on September 27, 2012 at 7:30 PM

Awesome. Simple awesome.

Registered on January 6, 2012, 651 Posts, 3448 Comments

Comment posted by Ajit Huilgol on September 27, 2012 at 8:56 PM

Very nice, Jenaya! The larger photo is definitely worth seeing!

Registered on December 19, 2008, 302 Posts, 2055 Comments

Comment posted by Verdon on September 27, 2012 at 11:20 PM

Cutest baby bear ever!!! He is got the ver smart look of great personality in the future, love it!!! Thank you for sharing!!!

Registered on June 10, 2011, 147 Posts, 1444 Comments

Comment posted by Jamie Douglas on September 28, 2012 at 1:50 AM

Your killing it with these bears

and nice processing work Jenaya

Registered on July 16, 2012, 10 Posts, 87 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on September 28, 2012 at 10:46 AM

The image of the first bear was cute, but I like the composition and sense of place in this image better. The colors and detail are great also. You capture the look on the cubs face very well.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on September 28, 2012 at 1:37 PM

Hi Jenaya. Superb! I think this is my favorite of all your postings to date! Techs and processing look great and the composition is very pleasing, with the cub perfectly placed. I especially appreciate the sense of place and rich colors of the vegetation, subtly accented by the excellent use of diagonal lines from the many rocks. Did I say I like this?

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on September 29, 2012 at 1:45 PM

Very nice indeed Jenaya. I do not have any nits so don't get me wrong, but I do have some food for thought. The fact that the BG is split between the big dark rock and the smaller rocks with vegetation is not ideal, particularly since that spit is right behind the bear. Perhaps repositioning yourself a bit to the right could have enabled you to get a BG with only that big dark rock?

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on September 29, 2012 at 3:12 PM

Jenaya: this is easily one of your best to date, IMHO. You were faced with several difficult challenges in getting this capture and you overcame them all. I wish he had been close enough to get the shot without having to use the teleconverter, as even after stepping down it has taken a bit of acuity away, but overall I think you achieved good image quality. The lighting, your choice of how to include the environment with all the seaweed covered rocks at low tide, your composition, and your timing in getting this GREAT look from "Haines" all add up to an outstanding image. Lon's comments about the diagonal lines created by the rocks gave voice to another subtle difference-making aspect to this image...there are multiple lines leading the viewer into the frame and specifically straight to your subject. I want this one for our wall, and I suspect others will as well. This is a first-class image, and I fully anticipate it will be another award-winner for you. Well done!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on October 3, 2012 at 11:25 PM

Wonderful pose, comp, leaves, and detail.
Congrats on a very cool WP!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Jenaya Launstein on October 5, 2012 at 4:23 PM

Thank you so much for the weekly pick! I'm very glad that you liked it so much!

Registered on February 8, 2011, 254 Posts, 1302 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on October 6, 2012 at 1:26 AM

Jenaya: CONGRATULATIONS!!! You did it! A Weekly Pick in the Wildlife Critique Gallery with a picture of one of your all-time favourite bears taken on a trip you won through your photography! There's a whole lotta cool realities in that sentence!

Great job...I already gushed on the image earlier, so this is just a huge two-thumbs up and congrats on the recognition.

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on October 28, 2012 at 5:35 PM

missed this one! what a cute pose and lovely setting Jenaya...
Vincent has a good point about a possible better positioning

Registered on March 22, 2011, 385 Posts, 2068 Comments