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by ellamay

Comment by Kelli:
This is excellent! Love it!

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by ellamay

Comment by MacDonald:
I can't imagine how thrilling it must be to get close enough to pull off a shot like this ... lighting him no doubt is similar to lighting an egret in a washed out sky - difficult- and you did a real nice job of making him stand out from his b/g. ONe day I hope to be able to travel as you have - I always enjoy looking through your portfolio

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by ellamay

Comment by in2truth:
Ooooh, one of my favourite animals. Love this shot. Was this taken before or after they sedated him and put him in prison for the rest of winter?

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by ellamay

Comment by scottieham:
As everyone else has said, this is a great shot. I think it is wonderful to actually see a photo of a polar bear in the wild :) I love his position and I love where you put his eye. You nailed the exposure. It does look like a little contrast would help it though. I typically start with levels, bringing in my sliders. Then i do an s-curve in curves. If i still need more contrast I add a duplicate layer of either overlay or soft light and i bring the opacity down to 0 and start working it up until I like what I see. Great shot!

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by ellamay

Comment by MaryO:
I can't even begin to imagine getting a shot like this in the wild; I'd be doing cartwheels!

Biggest thing I'd do to enhance this (were I getting picky) would be to play up the catchlights in the eye with some dodging, and maybe lightly dodge the face. Really great shot, though; add me to the jealous group ;-)

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by ellamay

Comment by jbsmithana:
Great shot and a tough exposure challenge. You asked about any tricks to make this stand out a bit more against the snow and I thought maybe boosting the black level a bit to have the nose, eyes and shadows in the fur jump out a bit more.

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by ellamay

Comment by bassbone:
awesome shot - he/she looks bored!

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by ellamay

Comment by pmichaud:
Excellent!! What were you doing this close? He looks like he has his eye on you!!

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by ellamay

Comment by Tammster:
WOW... wow...

Would love to see some details on the shot (equipment, shutter speed, etc).

Wow.

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by ellamay

Comment by stargazer05766:
Fabulous!! Can't even think of words to describe your shot..Superb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!