Flat Out!

Gallery: WildlifePosted June 26, 2014253 views6 comments

Flat Out!

Like many young animals, bear cubs have two speeds - flat out and...well...flat out! This is a shot of a yearling grizzly cub in the more sedate form of flat out. The process of this bear fading into dreamland was pretty interesting to watch - Ma had taken the bears off the shoreline (where they had been feeding for a few hours on clams) and junior found this great place for a salad dessert! The cub was able to completely rest his head (and left paw) on this log and munch away at the strands of grass with almost no effort. But it was obvious he/she was losing it - its eyes kept getting droopier and droopier and it started doing the "startled-as-its-head-and-paw-dropped" thing as it drifted off. And a few minutes later it was gone to the world!

Subject: Grizzly cub (Ursus arctos) bagging a few ZZZZ's
Location: Khutzeymateen Inlet, northern Great Bear Rainforest, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D4s
Lens: AF-S Nikkor 400mm f2.8 VR - hand-held from floating zodiac. VR on and in "Active" mode.
Exposure: 1/500s @ f2.8; ISO 400. -1.0 stop compensation compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.
Crop: Moderate - this is about 75% of full frame

More details about the image - including post-processing information, my rationale for shooting this one at f2.8, and a higher res version of the image - can be found here on my website:

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

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

Cheers...

Brad

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on June 26, 2014 at 2:51 PM

A well thought out and logical approach to the consideration of background and subject, and what should support the subject actively and what should be sub-context. I like your thinking and approach to this photo. And it reminds me of one of my very young kids falling asleep in his soup bowl!

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

Comment posted by Zack Clothier on June 26, 2014 at 6:10 PM

First I would like to say that I really do like the cub's pose and the overall composition. That being said I do find a couple of things distracting. First the grasses in front of the bear's face, I know, unavoidable. And second, there seems to be odd patches of out of focus areas all across the log, which is most likely the result of the f/2.8 aperture. Even the bear's eyes seem to be OOF, which, in my opinion, really need to be in sharp focus like the rest of the bear's snout and claws are. Just my observations.

Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Kathy Barnhart on June 27, 2014 at 12:09 AM

Very cute!! Would love to see a movie of the cub with the head nodding going on. Great catch. I can almost hear the snores.

Registered on November 11, 2011, 404 Posts, 1639 Comments

Comment posted by Jerry Austin on June 28, 2014 at 5:20 PM

Love the emotion and story conveyed in this shot. I always want to see the eyes, but in this shot, I understand what you were going for and I like it.

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

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on June 29, 2014 at 11:35 AM

I think the behavior you describe, and the shot/moment itself is priceless.
And isn't that when we've done our job as a photographer?
Cute & endearing, I give it a 9.9 Brad.. There's always room for improvement

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Ashleigh Scully on July 1, 2014 at 11:01 AM

Hi - really nice capture of this bear's mood and I like the one clay up on the rail too. I wish the eyes were just a little open. The green is an awesome accent color against the dark fur.

Registered on November 4, 2013, 36 Posts, 210 Comments