In the Field

Gone Fishin'. Northern BC Coast (Great Bear Rainforest), BC. September 29, 2009.

When you read a "Gone Fishin'" sign you instantly think of a lazy day in the sun, punctuated with peaceful snoozes. When a bear hangs that same shingle up, it means something very different - and it's in reference to an activity that's a whole lot more active! I captured this very rare white Spirit Bear fishing on a remote island on the northern coast of BC. This bear seemed to be a particularly adept "fisherman" (fisherperson?) and rarely missed in its efforts. The result of this sortie was the salmon (that's just visible directly front of the bear) ending up in the bear's mouth! One happy bear, but one less-than-thrilled fish!

There are many ways to capture action with a camera. One extreme is to completely freeze the action with a very fast shutter speed (usually 1/1000s or faster). More often than not I take the "completely freeze the action" approach when shooting birds in flight. Another way to capture action is to use slow shutter speeds (usually under 1/100s) to create motion blurs that can, if done correctly, produce artistic blurs that convey the feeling of motion.

When it comes to capturing action shots of mammals I often take a "hybrid" approach. I personally find action shots that contain both very sharp and very blurred elements interesting - I like the dynamic tension that exists between the sharp and blurred elements of the image. Producing this "tack sharp yet blurred" combination is tricky and normally requires shutter speeds in the 1/160s to 1/320s range. Capturing action effectively in this shutter speed range is tough and the end result is often an image that's little more than a blurry mess! But when shooting in this shutter speed range I occasionally manage to get a shot that I like and that combines both sharp and blurred elements. I shot this image at 1/160s and got extremely lucky - at this slowish shutter speed I must have caught the bear in mid-stride when its head went completely motionless for a milli-second (otherwise the head would have been one of my patented blurry messes!). But that right paw was a movin'! And, in a fraction of a second, it slapped down on that salmon and abruptly turned it to sushi!

This image was captured during my annual "Spirit Bears and the Great Bear Rainforest" Instructional Photo Tour in the autumn of 2009. If you're interested in joining me on one of my photo tours into the Great Bear Rainforest, check out the details on my "Seminars and Workshops" page. My Instructional Photo Tours into the Great Bear Rainforest are run in conjunction with Ocean Light II Adventures - they offer a number of amazing adventure tours (including top-notch bear-viewing tours as well as tours of exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands) and I highly recommend them!

Behind the Camera

Gone Fishin'. Northern BC Coast (Great Bear Rainforest), BC. September 29, 2009.

Digital Capture; Compressed RAW (NEF) 14-bit format; ISO 1000.

Nikon D3 with Nikkor 600 mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR lens - supported on Gitzo 1348 carbon fibre tripod with Wimberley head. VR on and set to "Tripod" mode.

1/160s @ f4; -0.3 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting of camera.

At the Computer

Gone Fishin'. Northern BC Coast (Great Bear Rainforest), BC. September 29, 2009.

RAW Conversion to 16-bit TIFF, including first-pass/capture sharpening using Phase One's Capture One Pro 4.8. Three RAW conversions at different exposure settings. Exposure settings of -0.75 stops (for background and highlights on the bear) through to 0 stops (on various shaded portions of the bear).

Further digital corrections on 16-bit TIFF file using Adobe's Photoshop CS4 and Light Craft's LightZone. Photoshop adjustments included compositing and masking of 3 exposure versions and selective sharpening for web output. LightZone's tonemapper/re-light tool used to adjust tonal range of the entire image (especially to bring out the white-on-white detail on the bear).

Conservation

Gone Fishin'. Northern BC Coast (Great Bear Rainforest), BC. September 29, 2009.

Ten percent of the revenue generated by this image will be donated to Pacific Wild*

Species Status in Canada**: Not currently listed as Threatened or Endangered.

The "Spirit" Bear is a rare genetically-based colour variant of the common Black Bear (Ursus americana). It has been estimated that less than 300 Spirit Bears exist today. Because the Black Bear is not considered under threat as a species, the Spirit Bear suffers from having the same conservation designation (it should be acknowledged that in British Columbia - the jurisdiction of greatest Spirit Bear abundance - hunting of these white-coated bears is not permitted). For reasons that are not fully understood, the Spirit Bear occurs with greater frequency in a relatively small geographic area within The Great Bear Rainforest of the central and northern coast of British Columbia. In this area 10 to 30% of the bears possess white coats. Many of the black-coloured Black Bears in this region carry the gene for white coats, so allowing hunting of ANY Black Bears in this region can reduce the frequency of the gene for white coats. Thus, to protect the Spirit Bear, it is necessary to prohibit the hunting of ALL Black Bears in this region. And, very unfortunately, the globally unique ecosystem that contains the Spirit Bear is under development pressure, especially from the forestry industry. If this unique environment is altered, we may lose the wonderful genetic anomaly known as the Spirit Bear forever.

*Pacific Wild is a non-profit conservation organization that is committed to:

1. Defending wildlife and their habitat on CanadaÕs Pacific coast by developing and implementing solution-based conservation strategies. Pacific Wild supports innovative research, public education, community outreach and awareness to achieve the goal of lasting environmental protection in the lands and waters of the Great Bear Rainforest.

2. Working with a diverse array of communities, First Nations, groups and individuals to ensure that biodiversity protection is at the forefront of land and marine use decisions.

3. Mobilizing a concerned global citizenry to achieve large-scale wildlife protection.

Natural Art Images supports the efforts of Pacific Wild and encourages you to do the same.

**as determined by COSEWIC: The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada