In the Field

On the Hunt. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. August 22, 2026.

Here's a fun one! Newbies/rookies on my photo tours often ask what it's like on my photo tours, presumably in an attempt to visualize what they'll actually be doing day-to-day. Well...here you go! This shot was captured just as the sun was rising on one very pleasant morning on my "Summer in the Great Bear: Focused on Wolves" exploratory photo adventure in August of 2026. At the time we were on the hunt for Coastal Gray Wolves. I captured this image from a second Zodiac inflatable boat.

Here's a larger version (4800 pixel) of this early morning scene:

• On the Hunt: Download 4800 pixel image (JPEG: 2.8 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 Summer in the Great Bear: Focused on Wolves Exploratory Photo Adventure in late summer of 2026. Each year I offer photo tours into various locations on the amazing BC coast, including the Great Bear Rainforest and, every other year, 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

On the Hunt. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. August 22, 2026.

Compressed RAW (ARW) format; ISO 125.

Sony A7R VI paired with Sony FE 100-400mm f4.5 GM OSS lens @ 246mm. Hand-held from floating Zodiac inflatable boat. OSS on and set to Mode 1. Spot: Expand Spot (tracking) AF area mode with subject recognition mode turned to Auto.

1/400s @ f4.5; -2.0 stop compensation from multi-metered exposure setting.

At the Computer

On the Hunt. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. August 22, 2026.

Initial noise reduction and capture sharpening on the .arw (raw) file using the DeepPRIME XD3 algorithm of DXO PhotoLab 10.0 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 contrast adjustment (using the Levels tool) and a slight bump up in saturation. 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

On the Hunt. Great Bear Rainforest, British Columbia. August 22, 2026.

Species Status in Canada: N/A.