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Lesson Info
6. Photographing Brown Bears: Day 1
Lessons
Lesson Info
Photographing Brown Bears: Day 1
No matter how much you plan and research, sometimes if you are newer to an area, there's nothing that can beat hiring a guide that does this every day of the week. Willie has been a pilot here in Alaska for 20 years. He's known as kind of the best pilot on Kodiak. So yeah, always get local knowledge, because it will make your trip 1,000,000 times better and 1,000,000 times easier. So we're gonna start loading all of our gear right now. We're super stoked. Let's go find some bears. (gentle music) (plane engine sputtering) So we just got to the beautiful Katmai coast in Alaska, and there are just bears all around. So we are just staying in a really tight-knit group, and just keeping our voices low and being calm. And right there we have a mama bear that is sleeping with her three Cubs. And I think she was nursing as we walked up, but now they're just taking a nap. So, a really special place. (music crescendos) (camera shutter clicking) This tripod's a game changer for me, because I usual...
ly just do everything handheld and then you know, a few hours into it, My arms are just dying and they're shaking. And this lens is like as because my torso (laughs) so it's really nice to not be holding it handheld for a bit. But it's just stabilizing everything. I have SteadyShot turned off, so that the lens isn't fighting the tripod. And it's just really nice to balance and get rid of shake. It's amazing for video too. (gentle music) (camera shutter clicking) So the Sony cameras have a really cool function called animal eye focus. Not all photographers like to use it. I hear some people don't like to, but I personally love it. I haven't had too many issues with it right now. So I have my focal point on the bear's face, and the animal eye focus picks up the eyes. And there will be little green focus squares moving around the bear's eyes, so you can make sure that you lock on to the bear's eyes and get those perfect sharp eyes that you want in a shot. (uplifting music) So a lot of this is about waiting, and being super patient. The bears in this little part are a little more skittish, a little less used to humans. So when we get kind of close, they move further away. So now we're kind of just taking the approach of just sitting put, and seeing if they choose to come to us instead. We have this female over here, she's getting closer and closer to us. (camera shutter clicks) She's actually in a good spot right now. You know, if you wanted more of the landscape in the shot, which is awesome, I like to get kind of different distances. So if she comes any closer, that would be awesome. But this is also nice too. My camera settings right now are my favorite (laughs). Just simple ISO 500, aperture F/2.8, and shutter speed, 4,000. Usually with this lens, I think the math is, you wanna keep your shutter speed the number of the focal length, if that's makes sense. So if you're shooting with a 400, you never wanna go under 400 seconds. If if I'm shooting handheld, I definitely don't even wanna get close to that, because I will usually have a lot more shake if it's handheld. So if it's handheld I try to stay around 2000, just to make sure we get the sharp shot. I also should probably mention if it's not obvious, wildlife is always moving. So, well, It's rarely not moving. Maybe sometimes you'll get something super slow, like a walrus or something. But for the majority, all wildlife is moving. So I'm always shooting on continuous. So I'm tracking the animal as it's moving. And my drive mode is always in kind of mid to high. Sometimes if the animal's moving really slow, you could shoot in low if you wanted, but sometimes high can be too fast. And then you end up having like a zillion photos to sort through, but just kind of depends on the situation and how the animal's moving. Or, for example like if you were shooting a flying eagle, you'd wanna be shooting on high, because you want to be like pow, pow, pow, pow. Get that eagle at that super fast speed. So yeah, it's just kind of about reading the situation, and how close or far the animal is, and how fast it's moving kind of will determine the settings that I'll use. (camera shutter clicks) (plane engine roaring) (water babbling) Well, it's important realize the bear's motivations for what he's doing. So we're on a river where there's salmon coming up. And right now the bears are trying to fatten up, falls is here. So their motivation for being on the river is to catch fish. When I'm watching a bear come down the river, I'm gauging where his intent is. And this big huge bear over here, gigantic boar, he's waiting. Oh, there he goes, he sees 'em, look. (water babbling) The younger bears have a lot more energy, so they're gonna move around a lot more. Where the older bears, more experienced, are gonna sit there, and it's gonna look like they're taking a nap, and they might even put their heads on their paws. It's important to have patience though and watch 'em, because when they do come alive, it's amazing.
Ratings and Reviews
Sarah Mackey
Brilliant and inspiring workshop This workshop was absolutely fantastic. I feel so lucky to have gotten an inside look at Charly's process and how she's developed her style. The videos following her on the photoshoot in Alaska are absolutely breathtaking, they gave me chills. The workshop was filled with so many great tips on how to be a mindful wildlife photographer as well, which is really important for our planet. After having finished this workshop, I definitely feel inspired.