June 4th-9th ... Let the Grizzly games begin

[brentawp]

Along with many others, including my friend Bill, who has already posted - we had the great encounter with the grizzly sow and four cubs in Swan Flats. What a treat to photograph them. The photo trip was a lot of rain, bears, and badgers. So enjoy the images and next week should be great as well. It's Yellowstone, it's always great.

I've had a number of questions sent to me about locations, other than the sow and four cubs on Swan Flats. The badgers were located on a curve in the Mammoth-Tower Road about a mile above the last of the phantom lakes. The second badger family was located about 150 yards past the hitching post bathrooms on the north side of the road and over the first set of little hills. Mom had her kits out and learning to hunt. This is about 50 yards from where the Druid Pack dug a den a few years ago, right close to the road, then later abandoned it.

The coyotes were everywhere after the rain, but these were photographed near Roosevelt Jct, as there seems to be a den nearby. It rained everyday, some days more than others, but I found success by continuing to move around the northern roads of the park.

Photo Tips for Poor, Low, or Rainy Light:

1. Bump your ISO up. If you have a high-ISO quality camera go to 1600, if you don't, then bump it up until you see the quality decrease substantially. 2. Shoot motor driven sequences of at least three shots. Many times you will get a sharp image, even at slow shutter-speeds. 3. Use a tripod. 4. Don't use your longest lens, use your fastest lens. In my case, I get twice as much light (and twice the shutter-speed) using my 80-200 F2.8 lens rather than my 500mm F4 lens. I will trade 10 bad images for 1 good image when I know the low light is killing me - the one good image is always worth it, and worth the effort. 5. Shoot RAW files and underexpose by 1 stop (-1 eV on the compensation dial) which will boost your shutter speed, then you can correct the light in processing the RAW file later.


The four little guys/gals together.


Trailing after mom.


Log walking with mom.


Taller than the sagebrush, but not by much.


Probably not a safer place on the planet.


And now for the badger family.


Mother Badger.


Two of three siblings.


Mom is a great hunter ...


Black Bear boar following sow near Petrified Tree ... stand up rub.


Baby bighorn sheep stretch their legs and lungs.


Mousing coyote in the rain ... and rain.... and rain.


Finally coming towards me.


Gray Wolf on elk kill south of Tower on the Mt. Washburn Rd switchbacks.


And lastly, a cooperative Blue Grouse on the Mt. Washburn Road.

[fiznatty]

First badger family I've seen photos of this year. Great photos, Brent.

Max

[lah]

Very good, entertaining pictures.

[Pingbizzle]

Awesome badger and wolf photo! Are they commonly seen by Dunraven?

[timv]

Nice lighting on all of the photos. Glad you were able to make the most of the rainy conditions.. outstanding photos ...all of them!

[PJC]

Those are some amazing images. I'm hoping to catch a glimpse of the bear family if they are still near swan flats area during my trip. May I ask where you found the badger family? Or was this close to the same location? Thanks.

[Helene]

Wow! Outstanding photos! Love them all but my favorite is the first shot of the three cubs standing.

[ELK]

Great photos.

[Hoggie]

Four cubs standing, doesn't get much better than that. Nicely done!

[YSNUT]

I don't know when I've seen better images. Thanks.

[Connie]

Beautiful! And thanks for the tips.

[timv]

I think the mom grizzly and the badger mom go to the same manicurist....nice cuticles!

tv

[shutterrific]

Great photos Brent. Still processing many photos myself. I have already printed the "Proud Mother" shot to 20x30 and it looks great. Thanks for another great trip!!

[grubadub]

really nice pics. enjoyed them very much. mama bear and mama badger have some very impressive claws

[BlueSky]

Excellent photos as usual Brent! I especially like "log walking with mom".
I also appreciate your tips very much as I am fairly new to this. Do you usually shoot wildlife in RAW now or just in certain circumstances? You mention jpeg in your tips on your website for shooting wildlife. I have found all of your tips very helpful and refer to them often.
Thanks for posting and hope to see more!
Kevin

[brentawp]

Do you usually shoot wildlife in RAW now or just in certain circumstances?

Ya, everything I shoot is in RAW. Bigger CF cards make shooting RAW more practical these days than it was maybe 2-3 years ago when a 2 gig card was average. Of the many advantages, one important one is that I end up processing the RAW file into a JPG file that is 40-60% bigger than if I had shot it as a JPG originally.

[denovo2k1]

Some really nice pics there. I do want to comment on what was originally said.

5. Shoot RAW files and underexpose by 1 stop (-1 eV on the compensation dial) which will boost your shutter speed, then you can correct the light in processing the RAW file later.

This is a good rule of thumb for long lens, it doesn't necessarily apply to fast or all lenses. Also it has been shown that files that are slightly over-exposed actually have more information and detail then in a perfectly exposed picture. So really you should only stop down if you have a hard time getting a sharp picture. Regretfully when you stop down you can never recover those black pics, because there is nothing there to recover (black=0 information), slightly over-exposed pixels (white being too much information) can be recovered thru the RAW editor.

[brentawp]

Also it has been shown that files that are slightly over-exposed actually have more information and detail then in a perfectly exposed picture. So really you should only stop down if you have a hard time getting a sharp picture.

The tips were for low light situations where shutter-speed is the most important factor in getting at least a few sharp images of a subject you may never see again in your lifetime. You can't overexpose (which slows the shutter-speed down) in low light situations and expect to get any sharp images at all .... as in zero. So your point about over-exposing has nothing to do with the tips I put on the trip report.

[denovo2k1]

I didn't say you were wrong, just commenting on what you said regarding recovery of black pixels. I agree about shutter speed, depending on the subject I always start 1/250th on shutter priority while in the park with my std. 300mm- to help get something of a shot if I see something quick (I change ISO's as I drive and the light changes).
As for saying that what I noted had nothing to do with what you stated......
You cannot recover black/underexposed pixels......you can however "recover by raw editor" slightly overexposed pixels, because that is the nature of what under and over exposed means and the information you collect.
Didn't mean for it to taken as a harsh comment or require a response back.

[denovo2k1]

Forgot to mention that the pics do look great. The badger pics are cool.

[Alan D]

Awesome pictures!

[Little Camera Boy]

Fantastic shots!

If you know me, you'd know I don't say that to everyone! Really great stuff. Some great shots that definatly should be printed.

[RDEshadow]

Don't know how I missed this thread, but awesome photos!! I like them all! Well done!

[Too-Many-Irons]

Stunning bunch of photos

[janis]

Wonderful photos! So sharp and crisp! Wish I could do that! So, thanks for the tips and discussion!
Janis