Grizzly in Fog

Hello Max

Very Moody image. For me a little too much mood .

Bill

Hi Max! Well, if I may be so forward as to disagree with my fellow Canadian, Bill, DEFINITELY not too much mood for me! This is, sincerely, not only one of my favourites of yours, but one of my favourites posted on NPN this year. I did wonder about dropping the values on the darker tones a little but introducing much contrast here will decrease the fog effect, so that's a tough one. I'm fairly certain that if you're anything like me, you've already tried several different conversions or at least played with the sliders in the conversion process, etc. and you've already chosen this as the winning look, but I still can't help but wonder what this would look like with a touch brighter brights and darker shadows/"blacks." In the end, my original statement still holds true for me: it's a phenomenal image as presented and not truly "needing" a thing for improvement...my wonderings re tonality are more a reflection of personal preference from one photographer/viewer to the next, which is why Bill and I have different feelings about this one!

John, you raise some good points. I've found that with most of my monochrome conversions I tend to prefer more contrast and bolder tones. So this is a departure. But as you said, if I went bolder and enhanced the contrast, the misty atmosphere would essentially dissipate. I guess I decided to stick with something that more accurately depicted the setting on that morning than something that might be more eye-catching.

Max

Max,
A most unusual image, fog is something we do not encounter in Africa although we sometimes get some early morning mist.
I think I would prefer a tad more contrast, but perhaps not?
On the rare occasions I get mist interference I find that using a duplicate layer is worth a try using "multiply, color burn or linear burn" and dragging down the opacity until you get something you like

This looks great to me as lighted through a monitor. I wonder if it would translate the same printed, or is one would have to lighten. I have no nits to discover in this presentation, but I would enjoy seeing the color (almost colorless) original for comparison. Thanks for posting this one!

Max: this is a very evocative shot. Great mood and proof that having the subject fill the frame isn't the only way to shoot. Congrats. Richard

Hi Max,

I always prefer moody shots over front-lit (or evenly lit) documentary shots, and I like simple images. Because this image definitely ticks both of those boxes off I quite like it. I do find it quite flat from a tonal perspective, which may easily reflect the conditions and appearance of the original scene. But, at the same time, that flatness does make it less of an eye-grabber than many other moody, misty shots I've seen. So...while I do like it, I can't say I absolutely love it.

Cheers...

Brad

Excellent comp and pose. Love the mystical feeling portrayed. Excellent image!

I really like it mate, great mood and simplicity.
I do agree with Brad and wonder if just a hint more midtone contrast on the bear would do the trick?

Morkel, thanks for the suggestion. This spurred me to play around with midtone contrast adjustments for the first time, and I do think it made a slight improvement to the image. I'll have to file that away for the future.

Max

Holy cow, Max! This is awesome. I love the mood, and I think the B&W conversion works really well here.