Black bear, head shot

Love the alert look - this is a fine head shot of a bear. I am trying to get used to (yet another) new monitor and am sorry if this is off base, but I think maybe a touch more USM would really make this pop.

Really nice, I'd be glad to have this in my files for sure!

I agree with everything Heather said. A very nice photo that needs a little bit of sharpening.

Very good head shot and agree with the other comments

Impressive portrait. I'm very jealous of all these wonderful black bear images.

Heather's comments are right on target. Very nice portrait.

I'm surprised by the "no flash" note. Is it possible that someone else had flash going off at exactly the same time, as a guess, to your left? The light on the nose, the catchlights in the eyes and the tiny droplets on the whiskers all make me wonder, especially since you were shooting at 400, 1/60 and 5.0!

The size of that mosquito (?) on the far right is also very impressive!

Rich

A fine bear portrait that portrays the temperment of a content bruin. I have been enjoying the changes in your images over the past year and really like the exact framing in this composition. Yeah, I'd go for a little sharpening and a verrry slight contrast adjustment to bring out the darkest parts of the fur more.

The others have covered the suggestions for improvement, I'll just say I really like the framing you've chosen, and the alert expression on the bear. Nice photo!

Very nice shot. You handled the blacks very well and I really like the comp.

Hi Joe---with your permission, here is the placid wooly beast with more contrast and some selective sharpening. This won't be perfect since we were working with a 2nd generation jpeg that had already been sharpened. You may acquire this kind of contrast adjustment by going to Image>Adjust>Curves. Anchor the center point. Then at the intersection of the adjacent left vertical line and the diagonal line, place an anchor point and pull it straight down until you see a bit more darkness in the fur. The other end of the curved line on the right side will move up which increases the overall contrast. I also selectively sharpened the eye and a couple patches of fur around the face. 1/60 at f/5 limits the dof so I think any attempts at USM will be more productive within the sharpest range of focus and you got that exactly where it makes a difference. The formula that works well for sharpening fur in jpeg files of this size is Amount 100/Radious 0.2, Threshold 0. Of course, there are many other ways to accomplish the same effects!

The repost is nice, it adds that "pop".