In the Field

Ma Griz 1 - Chum Salmon 0. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. August 30, 2024.

The structure and form of the current ecosystem of the Great Bear Rainforest is tightly tied to an annual influx of energy and nutrients injected into the system via the runs of spawning salmon. By consuming salmon both Grizzly and Black Bears benefit directly. But many other organisms (up to and including the massive trees in the forest) benefit from the bear's fishing efforts as well - nutrients originating in the salmon find their way into all sorts of animals and plants via scavenging on the carcasses left by the bears (or via their copious bear scat that is super-charged in volume and nutrient load by the ingestion of the salmon). So when this Ma Grizzly satisfied here own needs (and that of her cub as it helped munch down the salmon) by winning in her battle against this Chum Salmon she unwittingly contributed to the health of the ecosystem! Talk about a win-win scenario (unless, of course, you consider this interspecies interaction from the perspective of the salmon!).

I captured this image with my "key" wildlife lens when I'm shooting in the Great Bear - my Nikkor Z 400mm f2.8S. The optics of this lens (as well as its F-mount predecessor) when shot without its built-in TC engaged are superb - it's super-sharp at all apertures and it has nothing short of "dreamy" out-of-focus zones. When its built-in TC is engaged (turning it into a 560mm f4 lens) the optics are still very good, but experienced image-editors viewing the images on a quality editing display would notice a drop-off in sharpness compared to images shot at 400mm. HOWEVER, if one applies DxO's optical modules on the raw (.nef) file before processing, any sharpness "penalty" imposed by the 1.4x teleconverter absolutely vaporizes. Interestingly, the DxO software equalizes the image quality of the images shot with and without the TC engaged - so it "helps" the images shot with the built-in TC engaged considerably more than it does images shot without the TC engaged. I've noticed this trend (of DxO's software helping lenses "needing the help" more than those that are already uber sharp) before. So I've begun to think of DxO PhotoLab and PureRAW as "lens quality equalizers", at least from a sharpness perspective. If you stop to think about this software-mediated lens quality equalization there are a lot of consequences to it, including lenses you might select to purchase in the future and how those lenses are used in the field.

Here's a larger version (4800 pixel) of this beautiful female Grizzly and her prey:

• Ma Griz 1 - Chum Salmon 0: Download 4800 pixel image (JPEG: 5.2 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 the Great Bear Rainforest as well as 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

Ma Griz 1 - Chum Salmon 0. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. August 30, 2024.

High Efficiency* Compressed RAW (NEF) format; ISO 800.

Nikon Z9 paired with Z Nikkor 400mm f2.8S @ 560mm (built-in 1.4x TC engaged). Hand-held from a floating Zodiac inflatable boat. VR on in Sport mode. 3D-tracking AF area mode with subject detection set to "Animal" mode.

1/1250s @ f4.5; No compensation from matrix-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

Ma Griz 1 - Chum Salmon 0. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. August 30, 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 (build 16.4.6). In the case of this image the only global adjustments were an overall contrast tweak (using the Levels tool) and a slight reduction in highlights. 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 3 separate layers, with most of the tweaks being associated with "exposure balancing" and contrast adjustments (such as adjustments to clarity, highlights, shadows, etc.).

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

Conservation

Ma Griz 1 - Chum Salmon 0. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia, Canada. August 30, 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