In the Field

One Focused Bear! Great Bear Rainforest (northern BC coast), Canada. October 4, 2007.

This young female grizzly was amazingly intent while dealing with with this salmon carcass. So much so, in fact, that she totally ignored our presence. While I found the bear's behaviour interesting, it was actually the colours of the surrounding forest reflected in the water that motivated me to shoot this image (tho' I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have taken the shot without the bear in it!).

Two comments on this image. First, I make no secret of the fact that I often don't like images where both the foreground and background are out-of-focus. To me these images often look contrived and unnatural (your eyes don't really work this way). Plus, as a photographer, I know that the effect has been produced by using a large aperture with a telephoto lens (i.e., the image SCREAMS "telephoto"). In this case, however, the difference between the foreground/background being IN focus and OUT of focus was so small (there's almost nothing to focus on in the water!) that I felt I could ignore my own guideline.

The second comment pertains to subject-dominated tunnel-vision. It's VERY easy when photographing wildlife, especially those that we consider "charismatic megafauna", to be so focused on the subject that you see nothing else in the frame/scene. I've been very guilty of this myself. But, you can miss some really great images if you don't train yourself to REALLY see everything in front of you. I've found that if I consciously fire off a few quick "documentary" shots when I first encounter an animal and then tell myself "OK...now it's time to really go to work", I start seeing more of what's really there (and I produce far better images).

Behind the Camera

One Focused Bear! Great Bear Rainforest (northern BC coast), Canada. October 4, 2007.

Digital Capture; Uncompressed RAW (NEF) format; ISO 200.

Nikon D2Xs with Nikon 200-400 mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR lens @ 400 mm (600 mm equivalent with digital conversion factor) "balanced" on pontoon of moving Zodiac inflatable boat. VR turned to "On" and in "Normal" mode.

1/350s @ f6.3; -0.67 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

One Focused Bear! Great Bear Rainforest (northern BC coast), Canada. October 4, 2007.

RAW Conversion to 16-bit TIFF, including first-pass sharpening and exposure compensation using Phase One's C1 Pro.

Further digital correction on 16-bit TIFF file using Adobe's Photoshop CS3 and LightZone 3. Minor tonal adjustments performed in LightZone (using the ToneMapper/Relight tool). Photoshop adjustments included selective saturation enhancement and selective sharpening for web output.

Conservation

One Focused Bear! Great Bear Rainforest (northern BC coast), Canada. October 4, 2007.

Ten percent of the revenue generated by this image will be donated to Raincoast.

Species Status in Canada*: Special Concern (May 2002).

While Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) are not technically listed as "Endangered" in Canada, they have been extirpated from most of their historical range. Grizzly Bears are far more sensitive to intrusion/disturbance in their habitat than are Black Bears and are being increasingly forced into marginal habitat by human encroachment. The Great Bear Rainforest along the central and northern coast of British Columbia is one of the last strongholds of the Grizzly Bear in Canada, and even this population is coming under increasing pressure.

The Raincoast Conservation Society (and Foundation) is an effective and efficient organization that has been fighting for protection of this unique habitat. If you are looking for a meaningful way to contribute to the conservation of this amazing ecosystem, Raincoast will provide maximal "bang" for your conservation dollars.

For more information on the status of Grizzly Bears in Canada, go to: http://www.speciesatrisk.gc.ca and search under "Grizzly Bears".

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