jimsteeves

Focused

Aug, 2016

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Awards

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in Katmai National Park in Alaska of a brown bear chasing salmon in a river.

Time

This photo was taken mid-day.

Lighting

I was lucky and the sky was slightly overcast so that the bears did not have much for shadows although it was a challenge to get the exposure right with all of the white water.

Equipment

A Canon 5D MKIII with a 500 f4 lens on a tripod was used for this shot, I had to get down into the water so that the camera could be eye level with the bear.

Inspiration

I have been focusing on large mammal photography for the last 5 years and have taken multiple trips to seek out and capture bears in the wild. Most of my previous shoots contained lots of bears, but very limited action. These are powerful animals, but they spend most of their time foraging for grass, berries or easy to catch fish. I have seen results from other photographers that have successfully captured bears in action, either fighting in mating season or in active pursuit of salmon in waters such as this, I wanted to try and capture my own interpretation of bears in action.

Editing

I did some colour and exposure adjustments and also cropped the image.

In my camera bag

When I go to shoot wildlife I typically have two camera bodies and an array of lenses from 16 mm to 500 mm to maximize my options for the situation although I normally have a 70-200 on one camera and the 500 on the other and only use the wide angle lenses while waiting for the animals or there is a unique feature to capture where we are.

Feedback

My best advice for similar shots is to do some research ahead of time to find a good location and guide to find the bears and then watch the animals to see their behaviour, is there a spot/direction they will run from or to, particular spot on the river where they are successful and then do your best to get in position and be prepared to wait for the shot. Over 3 days at this location, this is the only eyes forward, big splash with some claws image I was able to capture head on as the bears preferred to run across our view instead of head on.

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jimsteeves

jimsteeves

Focused

Behind The Lens

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