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Thank you all for the comments!! This was probably a once-in-a-lifetime trip for us (to Alaska -- I don't expect that we'll make it back), but I'll definitely try to learn from this for the future.
B Benson wrote:
Hey Andrew. I have shot at An An Creek three times and it is one of the most difficult places to get good IQ that I have ever shot at. I heard it described as a hole with bears in it. First of all you have the mist coming off of the rapids and falls, and then the really dark location the bears use to fish in. If you do get some light, half of the image is in shadow and the other half in bright light. You did well with these, it is a great place to go. Did you have any cubs climb the trees next to the enclosure? We had one come down and get inside of the enclosure one trip, it was crazy. I am leaving for Halo Bay on Friday for coastal brown bears and hope to get some good chances there. Bruce...Show more →
Yep, it was much tougher than I expected. I was really hoping for it to be overcast, but our day turned out to be 100% clear with super bright sunlight, which didn't work well with all of the tree shadows. These ones were all down in the blind, where it was pretty dark (the ones from up top in the bright sun are much sharper, but the mottled light and shadows suck!). It was a blast to watch the bears anyway.
I did see the mother and the young cubs scrambling around on the other bank - it was awesome! And two young bears came right up to the railing (but not inside the enclosure!) -- that is how I got the first shot above. It was great.
We also had one big gal climb a big tree close by, but it was another tricky lighting situation, with the bright sunlight behind and the bear in mottled light:
Crappy pic of tree, just for context :-) by AER Wilmington DE, on Flickr
This is the best that I could pull out (after waiting about an hour for her to look in my direction!):
Big Fat Black Bear in Tree by AER Wilmington DE, on Flickr
(the ranger said she was a female, I have no idea whether that's right).
ScottHM wrote:
It is always a bit disappointing what you hoped was a good shot on the camera doesn't work out to be that way on the screen when you take it home. Some may scream at me, but despite not being perfect they're a reminder of the memory that to me is more important then the shot itself. It also gives you ammunition to what you can improve upon and make that next shot near to perfect.
Despite my rambling...I still think you got some great shots and with more post production work could probably get better results.
Agreed. Our trip was only partially about photography, and a lot of my pics turned out to be "memory pictures" rather than "wall pictures." :-) I'm OK with that. And thanks again for the feedback! Any specific thoughts on how to fix these up in post?
Edited on Aug 28, 2013 at 01:25 AM · View previous versions
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