Black Bear Diaries 2011 Part 6: Who goes there?

I am glad this momma bear was checking out the approaching family of deer rather than me at such close range. I had been watching this mum for about an hour and she was happy eating grass with her cub until we heard some rustling in the bushes about 15 meters away. At first I thought it was another bear but it turned out to be a family of deer who wanted to cross the field. After the bear stood up the deer decided not to venture across and soon disappeared back into the forest. I'd say that was a good call by the deer family although it would have been interesting to see how the bear would react to them if they continued to approach.

I held my breath when she stood up, not because I was close to a big bear who was standing up but because my camera shutter speed was low and I thought it might not have been fast enough to catch a sharp image in such low light. She had been eating grass in the field and was pretty much stationary for such a long time. Because of that my shutter was only at 1/200th of a second but as soon as she got back on all fours I checked the screen on my camera and smiled as I had captured a sharp image. Having the camera mounted on a tripod meant I could work at slower shutter speeds and still achieve sharp images.

Techs: 400MM @ F5.6 // 1/200 // ISO1250

Canon 7D with 400MM F5.6 L

Image © J M Douglas|Photography 2011

Techs: 400MM @ F5.6 // 1/200 // ISO1250

Canon 7D with 400MM F5.6 L

Image © J M Douglas|Photography 2011

 

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