In the Field

Shakin' and Swimmin' Great Bear Rainforest (northern BC coast), Canada. October 4, 2007.

Grizzly bears are very "animated" animals - they can be real fun to watch (let alone photograph). One thing that they do strikes me as a little odd is that they will often shake themselves off while still swimming! I'm not sure why they don't wait until they get ashore...seems kind of useless to shake while still swimming...

The biggest photographic challenge in capturing a shot like this (besides finding a cooperative bear) is in selecting the correct shutter speed. You want to use a shutter speed slow enough to blur selective parts of the bear plus the water droplets (thus suggesting motion) but still high enough to freeze critical parts of the bear that are still moving a little (in this case the snout of the bear). In this instance if I hadn't got the bear's snout sharp, the image would have been little more than a blurry mess. I find shutter speeds in the range of about 1/200s to 1/400s often work well for these types of shots.

Behind the Camera

Shakin' and Swimmin' 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

1/320s @ f8; -0.67 stop compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

Shakin' and Swimmin' 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 curves adjustment, selective sharpening for web output, and additional moderately heavy sharpening of water droplets (to increase the contrast of the drops and their background, thus increasing their visibility).

Conservation

Shakin' and Swimmin' 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