Just Chillin'

Welcome. This is a nice shot. All of the background provides a perfect backdrop for the bear.

Thought I recognized this photo. Welcome to NPN Rick, it's great seeing you here. I really like the feel of this image, it certainly looks like he is patiently waiting for rest of the water to freeze. A pleasing environmental composition.
Looking forward to seeing more of your photos.

Ken Archer

Welcome on NPN, Rick! I love the atmosphere in your image a lot. The endless whites and the bear just waiting and waiting. Looking forward to more of your work.

Hi Rick,

Welcome to the NPN Wildlife Gallery - and nice to see that you chose this gallery for your first post!

This is a very nice "enviroscape" that is both well-composed and tells a nice story (the old "waiting for the ice" thing). I like the colours and subtle lines in this shot. Your white-on-white detail on the snow is great - and the blues in the water look realistic to me. One thing I noticed (and it drew my eye quite quickly) is that some of the whites (or should I say "light yellows"?) on the bear look to be over-exposed (blown) a little. I acknowledge that this is tough to fully assess at this size and I may be wrong. But if they are blown perhaps they can be retrieved with a little selective recovery post-processing work...

Looking forward to future contributions. And feel free to jump right in on commenting on the images of others...I know some new members are a little shy about this at first, but one of the best ways to learn about photography is going through the process of critiquing the images of others (largely because one doesn't have an emotional tie/investment with them and you can look at them purely in photographic terms...and sans memory!).

Cheers...

Brad

I thought Polar Bears can swim, so why wait for the water to freeze? Just pulling your leg Rick, and welcome to NPN! I quite like this, particularly the diagonal and horizontal lines that divide the image in sections create an interesting composition here. The bear is well placed in the frame although ideally its head would be lit instead of its rear end (which, like Brad pointed out, does look a bit over-exposed). I am looking forward to more image posts and comments from you in this gallery.

Great sharp detail. If taken from a buggy you did a yeoman's job of dealing with the shake and vibration they introduce into the experience. Welcome to NPN.

Neat capture. I, too, noticed the somewhat hot yellowish tones on the subject. My only other tweak would be to take a thin, conservative slice crop across the top, about the bear's body thickness in depth, which I think would emphasize the nice diagonal lines in the snow and ice.

Really nice shot - the back of the bear is hot, as previously mentioned, but great capture nonetheless.