To take a little break from winter and the subzero temperatures hovering over Alaska’s interior, I went back in my summer archives and reviewed some photos taken in June. This picture is from a great encounter with a young grizzly bear, that curiously posed for a long time, which in wildlife photography, is anything longer than a quick glance. What was worthy of note in this particular frame was the very shallow depth of field due to the long focal length of 500mm, my close proximity to the bear, and shooting almost wide open with an aperture of f/5.6. In times like these, critical focus is all the more apparent and important. The eyes, an important element to have in focus, are very sharp. The nose however, is quite soft, which reveals how little depth of field there is in those specific shooting parameters.
Grizzly bear on the springtime tundra in Denali National park, Alaska. Canon 5D Mark III, 1/160 sec @ f/5.6, ISO 400
The narrow depth of field reveals that the eyes are very sharp, but the nose is soft.
