Black Bear in Ferns, Shenandoah National Park

In Shenandoah National Park, early June brings bright green flora that provides a great environment for wildlife photography. Ferns are one of my favorite sources of bright green and there is no animal that stands out in starker contrast to ferns than a coal-black black bear.
 
This mother bear paused her food hunting task to look intently toward her two cubs, treed high in a large pine tree nearby.
 
While the green flora is very helpful in compositions, it also adds challenges. One flora challenge is that it frequently obstructs the view of the subject with small animals (including fawns and cubs) being most-easily obscured. While an eye-level shooting height often works well for wildlife photography, a higher level may sometimes be needed to clear the obstructions.
 
Another flora challenge is AF-related. The contrast and brightness provided by the green leaves and grasses along with their closer-to-the-camera position often gains the camera's AF system preference, causing a strongly front-focused image.
 
The bottom line is that the eyes (minimally the closest one) must be in focus. While MF may sometimes be required to work around obstructions, they can often be worked around by selecting a focus point off of the animal's eye, on a nearby part. Which nearby part depends on the animal and its head position. If the animal is looking sideways in the frame, much of the head, from nose to ear, may provide a sharp eye. If the animal is facing the camera, the challenge is often greater with long noses also being a big AF system lock-on favorite. Parts that situationally may work include the forehead, the base of an antler or the base of an ear.
 
Carefully watching what is sharp immediately upon focus lock can help identify any series issues in that regard. For this frame, focusing on the eye worked fine.
 
I have had the privilege of photographing a large number of bears and know that they are not equally attractive. Within a species, they have somewhat different shapes and especially their coats are not all the same. This one; however, was a quite beautiful specimen.