This is a scan of the print - not as sharp. I used a tripod and Sigma 400 f5.6 lens, Kodak 100 print film, and camera-read exposure. Is it exposed correctly? The grasses seemed a bit greener than rendered. How does one get the eyes to light up? Thanks for any comments you can offer.

-- Sabrina Silvernale (ssilvernale@hotmail.com), December 02, 1998

Answers

The exposure looks to be about a 1/2 to 2/3 stop too dark. It appears that the sky was cloudy (no sharp shadows). Given the cloudy conditions, and the darker pelage of the bear, some compensation is needed. Judging from the guard hairs on the bear's back, you may have been able to open it up about a 1/2 stop to open up the shadows in the chest area, without blowing out the guard hairs. Blowing out the grass with increased exposure, may be a problem, but it's not the subject of the image.

Getting a catch light in the eyes can be done in one of two ways. If there is sun available, you have to position yourself and the subject correctly to get a reflection. You can also use a flash. This is a little more reliable, but you have to know how the subjects eyes will react to flash. For instance, cats and dogs eyes create some very strange images (same problem as "red eys" with human subjects) because of the light reflecting off the retina. I'm not exactly certain if bears have this same problem. This "redeye" can be avoided by moving the flash away from the axis of the lens, with a flash bracket or extension arm.

-- Joe Boyd (boydjw@traveller.com), December 02, 1998.

I would hesitate to judge film exposure based on a posted image. On my screen the image looks exposed properly - nothing is burnt out and the darkest areas are dark brown, not black, although detail is absent. 1/2 stop extra would open up the darkest areas, but the light areas would be too light for my taste and the foreground grass is already at the limits I would find acceptable.

The way the film is printed may account for the lack of green in the grass, perhaps the lab added some red to make the bear's coat a warmer brown and that took some of the snap out of the grass. Of course, it may also be the way the film renders greenish colors, too. Ask the lab what they did to make the print.

In order to get a sizable catch-light in an animal's eye at the distance you are from this bear, you would have to have a flash with a large diffuser or reflector. A straight bulb would be a pinpoint. If your bear had the brightest sky light head-on rather than as a backlight, you might have gotten a decent catch-light, but you would have lost the nice backlighting. The bear's eyes are pretty deeply set with overhanging brow ridges, too, so when the head is even slightly down, it cuts off sky light.

Frank

-- Frank Kolwicz (bb389@lafn.org), December 02, 1998.

Getting a catch light in the eyes can be hard if the critter is not accomodating. You should be watching the animals eyes for focusing. You will notice that there will occasionally be a reflection in the animals eyes (catch light). This usually occurs when the animal looks in a certain direction, or if you can change your angle a little. With a little bit of experience you will learn to hit the shutter when you see the catch light. Sometimes the lighting conditions will not produce a catch light regardless of the direction of the light. A little bit of fill flash may produce the desired result. Try setting the flash at a very low power (2-3 stops below the ambient light) to see the effect. You only need a tiny amount of light in the eye to produce a catch light. And please! Don't test this on bears! Good luck.

-- Kevin Ferris (KFerris575@aol.com), December 02, 1998.