Once again Willard and I found ourselves in Shenandoah National Park at daylight Friday morning. While whitetails are our primary focus other wildlife photo opportunities do occur. After the deer had moved into the deep woods for the day we encountered this bear ambling along the road.
Alighting from the vehicle with the Canon 30D with a 100-400mm attached my only option was to shoot handheld. The light level was quite low so I cranked the ISO to 1000 (as high as this camera can go before digital noise becomes objectionable). Holding as steady as possible with image stabilization on I rapid fired hoping to obtain a sharp image as the shutter speed was only 1/100 sec. The encounter was brief but it gave me my very best bear photo to date.
As summer winds down the bucks are beginning to exhibit the early signs of the coming rut. This young buck gave me my first lip-curl shot of the season.
great bear shot and you also caught the spider web on the velvet :)
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! That bear is adorable.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous shot of that buck!
ReplyDeleteSuper Bear photo! And the lip curl is excellent.
ReplyDeleteHi Coy,
ReplyDeleteevery time I walk into my blog, I am always amazed at your fantastic wildlife .. Bear with us, there is unfortunately not in the wild ...
because you perfect pictures are managed ...
greetings Frank
Hallo Coy,
jedesmal wenn ich deinen Blog betrete bin ich immer wieder erstaunt über eure fantastische Tierwelt.. Bären gibt es bei uns leider nicht in der freien Natur...
da sind dir perfekte Bilder gelungen...
Grüsse Frank
The expression on that deer is priceless. Love the bear as well.
ReplyDeleteWonderful shots!
ReplyDeleteNice shots! I'm assuming you didn't wander too far from your vehicle for that bear shot. Maybe only a little black bear, but nonetheless.....
ReplyDeleteWow these two pictures are marvelous Coy... I would be afraid to take the first one thought... We are planing to visit Norh America next year with the kiddos and are wondering about the bear.... Are they that dangerous and everywhere?
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteBlack bears are widespread however not everywhere, and no they are not all that dangerous. They deserve respect. If you do not encroach upon their personal space and move back if they do happen to approach you should have no problems. Your chances of being injured are far higher on the traveling on the highway.