Styling gator

[Randy Stout]

This big gator was imaged during my first trip to Gatorland last week. He seemed quite proud of himself, until an even bigger gator decided he had had enough of the show off and lunged at him. Pretty impressive attack, made me very glad I was on a boardwalk.

D4 70-300 VR at 300mm f/5.6 1/1000s ISO 1000 hand held

Post. Minor crop from top for comp. Selective sharpening.

Advice and comments always appreciated.

Cheers

Randy

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Randy, nice to see you managed to survive the encounter between the two gators and were able to post this image. :w3 It's also nice to see someone from another Forum posting here too. :wave:

Currently away so using the laptop which is not ideal, but will to give some feedback.

I like the simplicity of the shot, the position in frame and having the 3/4 profile with the shadow which makes it for me. Techs look good and the DOF looks just right as you have everything looking sharp. What I might suggest, and this is only based on what I am seeing, is just to add a bit more Mid tone to balance out the whites & blacks, but then in LR or ACR add a Graduate filter to darken down the FG/BKG, it just brings out a bit more depth for the subject to sit in, but just a thought, others may feel it looks fine. :w3

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Randy - I agree, nice to see you posting in Wildlife. I really like the comp and HA of the gator with a strong reflection. The bright water works well to set off the gator. Steve has made a good suggestion about midtones. There's what looks like a dust spot in the llc.

TFS,
Rachel

[Anette Mossbacher]

Hi Randy,

finally I can look under a gators chin :S3:
Love the reflection in this image. As already said by Steve with the brightness, would turn that a bit down IMHOP!

Have a great week

Ciao
Anette

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like the proud pose and the reflection here Randy. Good detail in the skin, with some more depth there to be teased out as per Steve's suggestion.
Having not pulled the image into PS - are there a lot of clipped whites in the water in the top half of the frame? If not I would suggest trying to tone them down (Steve's graduated filter approach will work well, as will Robert's standard luminosity adjustment). Looking forward to some more! (read: the lunge!)

[Randy Stout]

Thanks everyone for the input.

I have included a revised version, thanks to your input. Went for a more ominous feel. Let me know what you think.

Cheers

Randy

[Steve Kaluski]

That's looking much better Randy, I might just now apply a Curves adjustment to just lighten the lighter parts of the face and neck to bring a bit of contrast. By using a mask you can be selective and perhaps using a brush set at say 75%, it just softness the adjustment a bit more, however you can aways change this up or down.

Randy I will ask, as i do. How do you feel about the image now compared to the OP?

Cheers
Steve

[Brendon Cremer]

A lovely image Randy, the RP is by far much improved, agree with steve just needs a little adjustment on the face of the gator just to make it pop a little more.

[Cheryl Arena Molennor]

I prefer the second post. It totally changed the mood and works for me. Nice job getting a gator at Gatorland that looks like its out in the wilderness and that reflection is awesome

[Marina Scarr]

RP works best for me as well. It has a moodier quality and I like the comp you chose. Horizon is off just a tad.