Jennifer Marano
July 2026 - The Wild Life
About the Image(s)
I spent a week in Alaska at Bear Camp where we mostly watched bears. No phone signal, no Wi-Fi, just bear immersion. With bears it is often difficult to tell if they are playing or seriously attacking. These two young coastal brown bears, AKA grizzlies, kept up this wild chase for quite some time, but it didn’t end in a fight. They eventually went back to foraging for food, and seemed like good buddies.
Technical: OM 1 Mark 2 camera with 40 ??“ 150 lens and 1.4 teleconverter at 210 mm, ISO 400, f/5.0, 1/320 sec.
3 comments posted
Kudos to you for making such a trip! These guys (or girls) seem to be frolicking playfully in the water. Love the action (running, paws in the air, droplets of water flying). The different colors add interest. When I view this image at 100% - it doesn't appear tack sharp. One possible explanation - if I understand your settings - you're shooting at 150mm plus a 1.4 teleconverter - giving you a 210mm lens. I think the OM system has a crop factor of 2 - so the effective field of view is that of a 420mm lens. I think your shutter speed (1/320) is too slow even for a still scene. And this scene is so full of movement! It's a long lens, lots of action/speed. You could have pushed your ISO and shot at a much faster shutter speed. Accept some grain or denoise in post-processing. IMHO - sharpness is more important. Hindsight is always 20:20. I suspect you're not going back :) Posted: 07/12/2026 13:29:38
Thanks for the excellent suggestions. You are correct about the crop factor and the shutter speed. I should have at least brought an iPad along with me to view my images on a larger screen. Through the viewfinder they looked sharp. An expensive lesson, but the experience was priceless! Posted: 07/12/2026 14:57:56
Wow! What a fun week that must have been! You caught the action really well, and I really like that both of their faces are visible. I think that creates a much stronger emotional impact. And the paw of the one in the back and all its sharp details are very impressive.
I second what Steven said. And it took me a long time to learn not to be seduced by the seemingly sharp images at the back of the camera. They can be very misleading and provide false reassurance. You really have to look at them zoomed in a lot, or just wait until you get to the computer to see if they were really sharp. Posted: 07/12/2026 21:05:47
I second what Steven said. And it took me a long time to learn not to be seduced by the seemingly sharp images at the back of the camera. They can be very misleading and provide false reassurance. You really have to look at them zoomed in a lot, or just wait until you get to the computer to see if they were really sharp. Posted: 07/12/2026 21:05:47