A Critter-o-scape

Great Bear Rainforest Critter-o-scape

I had to think twice when deciding where to post this image. It has 17 eagles in it, 6 gulls, and only one measly bear! So by numbers it should go in the avian gallery. But...I'm going to use biomass and argue that the one measly bear far outweighs those birds and post it here!

Like many wildlife photographers I often like coming away from a shooting session with some interesting close-up shots of my "prey". But, I'm always on alert for good animalscape shots - those images where you're trying to get "classic" shots of an animal in the landscape in which it resides. A lot of novice wildlife photographers are captivated and even pre-occupied by the thought of getting "full frame shots" of their subjects. For those of this ilk the biggest challenge they think they face is getting close enough to their subject for a "good" shot. But if one sticks with wildlife photography for any length of time a realization slowly starts to sink in - that good animalscape shots are almost always far tougher to pull off than those "full-frame" wildlife shots. In shooting a strong animalscape you face all the challenges that a landscape photographer faces in "building" a visual interesting image, plus you add in the challenge of incorporating mobile subjects that could care a less where they "should be" in the frame (those selfish beasts!).

I've been traveling into the Great Bear Rainforest on the central and northern BC coast twice a year since 2005. It's a magical, pristine place - National Geographic magazine referred to it as "The Wildest Place in North America" in August of 2011. I've obtained thousands of close-up shots of bears (and humpback whales, and eagles, and more) over the years and find now that I'm looking more and more for scenes that convey the full feeling, look, and essence of the Great Bear Rainforest. I shot this moody image of the Great Bear in September of 2012, but just got around to processing it recently (January of 2013). This shot was captured in a hard-to-access portion of a rarely visited inlet - in any given year only a handful of humans would get to this spot. I think anyone who sees this shot and has been in the Great Bear Rainforest would instantly think "yep, that's what the Great Bear is all about".

Animalscape shots can be tough to present online. They can have so much detail in them that much of it is lost in an image of 1200 pixels (long axis) or less. For instance, this shot contains a total of 17 eagles (both adults and immatures), 6 gulls, and one bear. So...for those dying to find all 17 eagles (and I willing to bet no one can find more than 16) or those who simply want to see the detail revealed in a larger version here...well...here's a 2500 pixel version...

Subject: Small Great Bear Rainforest menagerie
Location: Great Bear Rainforest, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4
Lens: Nikkor 70-200mm VR zoom @ 135mm - hand-held from floating zodiac. VR on and in "Normal" mode.
Exposure: 1/160s @ f8; ISO 500. -0.33 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Very minor - this is over 95% of full-framed image

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

http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/mammals/bears/.

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

Cheers...

Brad