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Bearly a shadow can scare me away
Bearly a shadow can scare me away
ShutterPug


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Shadows III (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Canon EOS-20D
Lens: Sigma 50-500mm f/4.0-6.3 EX DG HSM for Canon EOS
Location: Champion, MI
Date: Jun 7, 2006
Aperture: f10
ISO: 400
Shutter: 1/100
Galleries: Nature, Animals
Date Uploaded: Jun 8, 2006

Taken at 8pm, the sun was just going down casting a great shadow off this American Black Bear. I was anticipating his return as he has been frequenting my yard and destroying all my bird feeders, so the camera and Bigma were on the tripod just waiting. I have several other pics that I will be posting after this challenge has ended.

Statistics
Place: 123 out of 154
Avg (all users): 5.0166
Avg (commenters): 5.7143
Avg (participants): 4.8472
Avg (non-participants): 5.1284
Views since voting: 1708
Views during voting: 243
Votes: 181
Comments: 8
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
06/24/2006 03:05:45 AM
Greetings from the Critique Club

First impression and overall look:
Wow! Thank God I live in a country where the most dangerous animal is the boar. I wouldn't want to wake up and find that in my back yard. You're a brave person to make this shot at all.
That said, photo-wise there is something to be improved on the composition. While I understand that the challege was shadows, and therefore you wanted to include the shadow of the bear in your photo, it doesn't really add to the image. The fore and background you could also do less with. A tighter crop would lose the 'snapshot' feeling that this picture breathes. The problem with that then becomes that you would lose points for DNMC.

Technical and post processing:
Technically it's all fine. Lighting is OK, and I doubt a larger aperture would improve the DoF very much, although the image would be better with the background more out of focus. Cropping and bordering the image would make some difference.

Meeting the challenge:
Well, there is a shadow, but it's certainly not what you were aiming for in this image. This photo is about the bear and the shadow only comes second place.

How to raise your score:
The fact that the bear is the attention point and not the shadow certainly cost you a lot of points. I feel that this image would have done a lot better in a 'Wildlife' challenge than in the shadows challenge. All in all, this image is a bit too flat to score high.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
06/18/2006 10:23:30 AM
Awwwwwwww. .. . .way to use a shadow to tug at my heart strings :) Bubbling over with the cute factor. . .so it gets a 10 from me :)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/15/2006 06:04:33 AM
Challenge: SHADOWS III
Description: Creatively capture a shadow
Advanced Edit
Bearly a shadow
Fit: Clearly meets the challenge 1

Aesthetics: OK composition 1
Good subject but does not feel balanced
Technical: Technically OK 1
Maybe some more contrast?
Wow: Has some impact 1
Brave man to take the shot but lacks something for me - sorry
Total Score = 4
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/15/2006 02:40:51 AM
Hehehe...clever title.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/14/2006 08:23:46 AM
love the bear but the shadow could be anything
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/13/2006 04:24:10 PM
I think what throws this off for me (challenge-wise) is that the subject seems to be the bear rather than the shadow. Also, the composition seems a little static with the bear and shadow in the center of the pic. I think that if they were in the lower third it might work a little better - give it a little more sense of being out in the wilderness.
I also think that this would work better for the challenge if the shadow had a little more definition to it...if it looked more like the outline of the bear.
It's not a bad shot of a bear, but for a 'shadow' challenge, it's lacking a little 'oomph' in the shadow area.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/12/2006 03:31:37 PM
Whilst the shadow is barely even secondary here, it IS there and that bear makes the photo special.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
06/12/2006 06:30:37 AM
Nice shot, the shadow is enough to meet the challenge, but the bear's expression is what really makes it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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