Morning Grizzly

I'd love to hear peoples thoughts on this image. What feeling does it

give? What could I have done differently? Do you like the flash in the

eyes?

Thanks for the feedback!

The direct flash you used, literally ruined a shot with great potential. Using a flash which is placed in the same axis with our lens, is a big mistake, cause every animal's eye reflects the flash light back, which means that our subject's eyes are completely washed out. That's why there are suitable flash brackets which put the flash gun either to the side or in front of the camera, so that we can avoid this problem. Other than that, you composed the image very good, and the color variety is also nice....

Peter, wildlife is not a genre of photography that particularly interests me. However, I am interested in intent—what you want your photograph to say. It seems that reading between the lines of your comment that you are not seeing this as a wildlife photograph. I can be totally off base here but it eems to me that you are seeing this as making a statement about encountering a bear, the apprehension that creates. I believe you are seeing the flash reflected in the eyes as evil, as increasing the feeling of being threatened—adding a element of danger to the photograph. If that is the case the only suggestion I would offer is to slightly darken the ground in front of the bear that is overly bright because of the flash. Beyond that it is an excellent photograph.

I once had a jerk toss an apple to land on the ground between my legs while I was photographing Black Bears in the Smokey Mountains. Maybe that helps me see your photograph from this particular perspective. Let others do photographs by the rules—in the end you will be the one that has all
the fun.