American Alligator

[Joseph Przybyla]

I captured this image last week at St. Mark's NWR in Crawfordville, Florida. This one was long and thick bodied, about 12 feet long. It has the dark, black color of a long lived adult, when younger the coloration is lighter and more camouflaged. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D7000
Nikon 80-400mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF-S ED shot at 400mm (600mm FFE)
1/2500 F/5.6 Matrix Metering 0 EV ISO 720 AWB, camera supported by a monopod
Post processed in Lightroom 6 and Photoshop Elements 10
Cropped for composition and presentation

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joe, good to see a different species posted.

Being a bit hidden within the grass sadly I feel isn't ideal, as you only get sections of the subject, if the head was more visible then for me it would be a better image. Not a good idea/move to attract his/her attention to get more viewpoint of the head, or even get a lower POV within the water :bg3:. If you have it, then I would suggest moving the whole crop down, so you have less above and more below. I would also reduce the blue which is evident in the subjects skin, however you may find a 'Global' adjustment works, or you may have to do a 'Selective' one within a Layer mask.

Hope you get some more opportunities.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Joe- Good to see an alligator and it's hard to tell size from the image so thanks for that info. Definitely not a place I would want to go swimming. Steve has covered the critique well and I agree with his suggestions.

TFS,
Rachel

[haseeb badar]

Hi Joseph -- I agree with what Steve has to say , and thanks for sharing a different specie !

[Morkel Erasmus]

Always good to see different species posted here Joe.
I do agree that the head position isn't ideal.
Did you get any other shots with the head in the clear?

[Joseph Przybyla]

Thanks everyone for viewing, commenting, and suggesting improvements. This was just at quick snap as I passed by the gator. When they are sunning like this they will not move for hours, so getting a shot with the grass not covering part of the head was not really possible with the time I had. Thanks again, very much appreciated.

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hi Joseph!

Sorry to comment late, I did have a look the other night but wasn't sure about this image for reasons mentioned above. Wanted to "borrow" it and look at the colours but I never got to doing so.

Don't remember seeing a "Gator" here in Wildlife so a first for me, thank you so much for sharing. A pity about the head not entirely visible but nothing you could do about it. Would love to see more from you, please pop in here more often!

Kind regards,

Hope you have a lovely week-end,