In the Field

About Those Eyes... Khutzeymateen Inlet (Great Bear Rainforest), BC. May 30, 2009.

I shot this "active portrait" of this sub-adult grizzly in the spring of 2009. The bear made by job easy by coming at me at the exact angle to the sun to produce maximal detail in the facial and eye region. While side-lighting is usually my favourite light, it's usually too harsh for producing wildlife portraits, especially if you're not willing or able to use flash-fill (which I won't use on wild bears). In this case the bear was front/side-lit - with the sun at a 45 degree angle to the line formed between the bear's eyes and me. I shot the image while on my knees - which is a very convenient position in a situation like this because it allows you to quickly switch over to praying immediately after the photo is captured! ;-)

I've cropped this image tighter than I'd normally prefer for aesthetic regions simply because I wanted to make sure the exact direction of the bear's stare was visible here - which is the topic of this commentary...

It's pretty much universally accepted among wildlife photographers that effectively capturing an animal's eyes, especially when they contain those bright sparkles known as "catch-lights", can be a big asset to a wildlife shot. But where should the animal be looking? I know of photographers that love to have the subject staring directly at them - I've heard it referred to as "full eye contact" and "direct eye contact" and even "perfect eye contact". But...I know of image BUYERS that immediately reject shots where the subject is staring directly at the photographer for exactly that reason - the animal is staring directly at, and thus interacting with, the photographer. In other words, the animal's behaviour is being directly affected by the photographer and is, thus, "not natural". Then there are the situations where the animal's eyes are fully visible yet clearly not looking directly at the photographer - close, but not quite. The image above is an example of this - the bear is actually looking slightly above and to my right (I can't recall what this bear was looking at when I shot this - I was probably hoping it was something more appetizing than me!). And then there's the "eye-visible-but-looking-into-the-distance" style where the animal can appear to be looking almost pensive.

I have to admit I have no clear-cut favourite eye-direction myself - I find it varies with what I'm trying to accomplish with the image. I have some bear portraits where the subject is staring so intently at me it appears to have a deep intelligence - I know of no other way to convey this feeling without having the subject looking directly at me. But, I have a number of other shots where the bear is looking into the distance in what looks to be a contemplative stare. And, I even have a few shots where the eye direction says a lot about the relationship between multiple subjects. The eyes can say an awful lot!

The take-home lesson? Probably just that if you have the chance (when you're working closely with a wild subject) try to capture several different types of eye contact - not JUST that full-on stare. It could make the difference between selling an image and having it end up in the "reject" pile!

This image was captured during my annual "Grizzlies of the Khutzeymateen" Instructional Photo Tour in the spring 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

About Those Eyes... Khutzeymateen Inlet (Great Bear Rainforest), BC. May 30, 2009.

Digital Capture; Compressed RAW (NEF) 14-bit format; ISO 450.

Nikon D700 with Nikon 200-400 mm f/4G ED-IF AF-S VR lens @ 200mm - supported on Gitzo 1348 carbon fibre tripod with Wimberley head. VR on and set to "Normal" mode.

1/250s @ f5; -0.33 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting of camera.

At the Computer

About Those Eyes... Khutzeymateen Inlet (Great Bear Rainforest), BC. May 30, 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 -0.1 stops (for background and highlight retrieval) through to +1.67 stops (on various portions of the bear's head and legs).

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. Final tone balancing and tweaking performed using the Tonemapper/Re-light tool in LightZone.

Conservation

About Those Eyes... Khutzeymateen Inlet (Great Bear Rainforest), BC. May 30, 2009.

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

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.

*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