In the Field

Misty Sunrise in the Great Bear. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. August 28, 2024.

This shot was captured during my "Summer in the Southern Great Bear" exploratory photo adventure in August of 2024. While our most memorable wildlife encounters on this photo tour were with coastal gray wolves and humpback whales, we certainly had some noteworthy sessions and photo ops with grizzlies as well!

I captured this image on a very foggy and misty morning in one of the most picturesque inlets on the entire BC coast. I travel to this inlet almost every year, and I am almost never disappointed in what I see and photograph there. It often has magical light, wonderful flowing fog and mist, and commonly very cooperative black and grizzly bears. This particular grizzly was working the shoreline of the main estuary when it stopped to take a few good sniffs of the air and gave me a very nice back-lit and silhouetted pose! Thank you Mr. Bear.

Those who look at the "tech specs" of this image may notice that I was using the "Birds" subject detection mode of my Z 9's autofocus system when capturing this image. This wasn't a mistake - it was intentional. Now, I'm no idiot - I know a bear is NOT a bird! However, after a shit-tonne of testing and field shooting, I have consistently found that the "Birds" subject-detection mode of the Z 9 (and Z 8) picks up, finds the eye, and holds and tracks terrestrial mammals better than "Animal" mode does in some specific situations. One of those situations is when the subject (the terrestrial mammal!) is small in your viewfinder. And, this image is an example of what I mean when I say "small in your viewfinder" - the bear occupies considerably less than 5% of the entire frame. So when I am shooting images like this I intentionally switch to "Birds" subject detection mode. However, once that terrestrial mammal moves closer (or you grab a bigger lens) and fills more of your viewfinder there comes a point where "Animal" subject detection mode will start working better than "Birds" mode (and by "working better" I mean "will recognize the subject, stick with it, and track it better"). I have found that once the terrestrial mammal you are photographing occupies about 20% or more of your frame you're usually better off using "Animal" as your subject detection option.

Attentive readers may be wondering why I used the very specific term "terrestrial mammals" in the previous paragraph. Well...for a very good reason - if you are photographing marine mammals (think whales, dolphins, sea otters, seals, sea lions, etc.) the "Birds" subject detection mode virtually always grabs and holds the subject better than the "Animal" subject detection mode (regardless of how large the subject is in your frame or viewfinder). And, the same is true if you are photographing a terrestrial mammals that decides to go for a swim - so "Birds" mode is better for swimming river otters, swimming bears, swimming wolves, etc. No kidding!

Here's a larger version (4800 pixel) of this moody grizzly animalscape:

• Misty Sunrise in the Great Bear: Download 4800 pixel image (JPEG: 3.4 MB)

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

1. These images - in all resolutions - are protected by copyright. I'm fine with personal uses of them (including use as desktop backgrounds or screensavers on your own computer), but unauthorized commercial use of the image is prohibited by law. Thanks in advance for respecting my copyright!

2. Like all photographs on this website, these images were captured following the strict ethical guidelines described in The Wildlife FIRST! Principles of Photographer Conduct. As such, no baiting or any form of attractant was used and, as always, we attempted to minimize our impact on the ongoing behaviour of the subjects. I strongly encourage all wildlife photographers to always put the welfare of their subjects above the value of their photographs.

3. This image was captured during my Summer in the Southern Great Bear Exploratory Photo Adventure in late August of 2024. Each year I offer trips into two different parts of the Great Bear Rainforest as well as two tours into the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Sanctuary (to photograph grizzlies, of course!). Details about these trips can be found on the Photo Tours page of this website.

Behind the Camera

Misty Sunrise in the Great Bear. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. August 28, 2024.

High Efficiency* Compressed RAW (NEF) format; ISO 64.

Nikon Z 9 paired with Z Nikkor 400mm f2.8S. Hand-held from floating Zodiac inflatable boat. VR on in Sport mode. 3D-tracking AF area mode with subject detection set to "Birds" mode.

1/1000s @ f5; No compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

Misty Sunrise in the Great Bear. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. August 28, 2024.

Initial noise reduction and capture sharpening on the .nef (raw) file using the DeepPRIME XD2S algorithm of DXO PhotoLab 8.1 Elite (using the appropriate lens/camera optical module).

Subsequent adjustments to the adjusted linear DNG file (exported from PhotoLab) and conversion to 16-bit TIFF file (and JPEG files for web use) - including all global and selective adjustments - made using Phase One's Capture One Pro 23 (build 16.4.6). In the case of this image the only global adjustment was a slight lifting of the blacks. Selective local adjustments performed using Capture One Pro's layers and masking tools. In this case numerous small adjustments and minor tweaks were made on 4 separate layers, with most of the tweaks being associated with "exposure balancing" and contrast adjustments (such as adjustments to clarity, highlights, shadows, etc.). I also selectively made small colour tweaks to the background with the Color Balance tool.

Photoshop modifications included insertion of the watermark and/or text.

Conservation

Misty Sunrise in the Great Bear. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. August 28, 2024.

Species Status in Canada*: Special Concern (May 2002).

While Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) are not technically listed as "Endangered" in Canada, they have been extirpated from most of their historical range. Grizzly Bears are far more sensitive to intrusion/disturbance in their habitat than are Black Bears and are being increasingly forced into marginal habitat by human encroachment. The Great Bear Rainforest along the central and northern coast of British Columbia is one of the last strongholds of the Grizzly Bear in Canada, and even this population is coming under increasing pressure.

On December 18, 2017 the government of British Columbia banned grizzly hunting across the entire province. This major conservation victory came after decades of tireless work by many dedicated conservationists and ecologists and, most importantly, it reflects the opinion of the vast majority of British Columbians. And, it means that AT LEAST while the current government remains in power grizzlies are finally "safe" in British Columbia.

Now that we've at least temporarily won the battle to save grizzlies in BC, it's time to re-focus our efforts toward protecting ALL of BC's carnivores, including Gray Wolves, Black Bears, Cougars, Wolverines, and more! Simply put, there are no ecological, economic, or ethical arguments supporting the trophy hunting of carnivores.

*as determined by COSEWIC: The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada