In the Field

We Spy, With Our Little Brown Eyes... Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. June 3, 2026.

What could be better than finding a friendly "mom" Grizzly Bear with two very inquisitive cubs? Oh, I know...finding them on the edge of a jaw-droppingly beautiful forest - and in synch enough so that all 3 "gave me the eye" at the exact same time! Wildlife photographer catnip!

I captured this image using a fairly long lens - a Sony 600mm f4 lens. Like with most modern mirrorless super-telephoto lenses this lens is absolutely tack sharp when shot wide open - there's zero reason to stop it down at all to get sharp shots. So, for me, aperture choice often comes down to deciding how much depth-of-field (DoF) and subject isolation I want in a given shot. And in this case it was a bit of a tricky decision. On one hand I had the "multiple subject" issue - where you want to ensure the face (and especially the eye) of all 3 subjects are sharp. So there's an argument to be made for stopping down a little (from f4) to increase your DoF. On the other hand, that background moss-covered log did have the potential to distract a little, especially if it was in sharp focus...so I wanted it to be softened at least somewhat. Which argues for shooting with as wide an aperture as possible to narrow the DoF and soften the background. What to do?

My choice in this instance was to shoot wide open at f4, but be very careful of my placement of the focus point. So what I did was to turn off the subject recognition component of my autofocus system and focus on the tip of the nose of the middle of the three bears (the one furthest to the left of the image) - with the hope all 3 bears would then fall into the region of sharpest focus (i.e., falling inside the DoF). Of course, with a 600mm lens the DoF is distributed equally in front of and behind the focus plane. So I was hoping I had enough DOF to keep all 3 bears in focus but still soften the background - especially that log. And...in this case, my hastily conceived plan actually seemed to work out! Will wonders never cease!

Here's a larger version (4800 pixel) of this family of curious ursids:

• We Spy, With Our Little Brown Eyes: Download 4800 pixel image (JPEG: 5.8 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 Spring in the Southern Great Bear Instructional photo tour in late spring of 2026. Each year I offer photo tours into the Great Bear Rainforest and, every other year, photo 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

We Spy, With Our Little Brown Eyes... Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. June 3, 2026.

Compressed RAW (ARW) format; ISO 1000.

Sony A1 II paired with Sony FE 600mm f4 GM OSS lens. Hand-held from floating Zodiac inflatable boat. OSS on and set to Mode 1. Spot XS (non-tracking) AF area mode with subject recognition mode set to Animal/Bird.

1/2000s @ f4; -0.7 stop compensation from multi-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

We Spy, With Our Little Brown Eyes... Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. June 3, 2026.

Initial noise reduction and capture sharpening on the .arw (raw) file using the DeepPRIME XD3 algorithm of DXO PhotoLab 9.5 Elite (using the appropriate camera/lens 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 Capture One Pro (build 16.8). In the case of this image I made two global adjustments - a slight increase in brightness (= mid tone exposure) and a contrast bump (using the levels tool). 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 5 separate layers, with the tweaks being associated with "exposure balancing" and contrast adjustments (such as adjustments to brightness, clarity, highlights, shadows, blacks, etc.).

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

Conservation

We Spy, With Our Little Brown Eyes... Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. June 3, 2026.

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