Watercolor 'Gator

[Andrew Harrell]

I am lucky to get lots of opportunities for alligator photos, but in some ways they are not very photogenic subjects as they are usually almost fully submerged and the water surrounding them all looks the same. But on this shot, the wind was blowing and the background reflected in the water is such that I think it gives the water a "watercolor" look. Add alligator, and it becomes a decent shot (I think).


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Sony a77ii, Tamron 150-600, 600mm at f6.3, 1/3200sec, ISO 3200

In LR CC: Exposure -1.19, Contrast +10, Highlights -17, Shadows -29, Blacks -5, Presence +7. Cropped down to take out extra water and make 'gator a bit bigger in frame.

There was still a blue cast after these changes, so I set Saturation of Blue to -47 to remove the cast. Then ran through NIK DFine to reduce the noise from the high ISO (for my camera).


Appreciate your C&C.


AP

[arash_hazeghi]

very cool head shot Andrew, I like the green color and the reflection of the eye, The IQ is lacking a bit though, namely the head eye look soft. Was the RAW capture sharp at all ?

TFS

[Andrew Harrell]

Arash: I thought from the RAW it was sharp, but there was heavy noise from the ISO setting. Could it be that when running the pic through NIK DFine for noise reduction, I lost some IQ there?


AP

[arash_hazeghi]

can you post a close crop from RAW?

[Tim Foltz]

I agree with Arash maybe do some selective sharpening on the head area, maybe to large of a crop?

-Tim

[Adhika Lie]

AP, do you still have some room on top? I think I would like the gator to be lower in the frame.

[Glennie Passier]

Andrew, some good comments above. I actually like the way the gator is looking down the frame. Love the watercolour water. You did well to remove the blue cast. I really like his body under the water and wish there was more.

If this were mine, I may consider a tiny lightening between his eyes and down his snout a little way, just enough to bring up the shapes within. For those of us with "not so great" cameras, I think noise is always going to a problem. (I cannot see any visible noise on this post) If I am going to run NR I'll select the subject and inverse and just run it on the BG. Sometimes you can get away with running NR all over the image and then just reverse the effect on the eyes.

[arash_hazeghi]

. For those of us with "not so great" cameras, I think noise is always going to a problem.

I am afraid that's not true.

You can definately get clean sharp images with any camera, just look at Daniel's photos with the 7D2 and even the 7D before that. Both of these cameras have a reputation for being more noisy than most prefer.

You have to use proper technique and post processing, that includes knowing the limitations of your gear and working around it. While Andrew's camera doesn't do as well as a 1DX at ISO 3200, I still believe the lack of IQ comes from a soft RAW file. Andrew can you post a 100% crop of the RAW?

furthermore there was no reason for him to be shooting at ISO 3200 for this subject, he could have easily dropped the shutter speed to 1/1000sec lowering the ISO where his camera performs better. This would have resulted in a much cleaner image.

hope this helps

[Andrew Harrell]

Folks: I'm posting both the original (so you can see the noise and how large a crop I took) and what I hope is close to a 100% crop -- Arash, sorry, really don't know exactly how to give that to you via LR CC, so hope this will do ...

Original:

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Hopefully close to a 100% crop ...

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AP

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Andrew the 100% crop is soft, i.e. it is not in sharp focus thus the poor IQ.

Did you focus on the gator's head? were you using continuous focus?

[Andrew Harrell]

Arash: I did focus on the head. I was using continuous focus. From what I've given you here, can you tell if the softness is due to motion (I would not have thought so at 1/3200 and the animal was still), missed focus point, or something else?

[arash_hazeghi]

Hi Andrew, it is certainly not motion.

it is either bad focus or just a soft lens. Have you tested your lens with a stationary subject on tripod at low ISO to see what kind of sharpness it can deliver?

[Andrew Harrell]

Arash: No I have not, and now I have a very good reason to do so. Will report back results after the test, but in the meantime I have another 'gator post I will put up and you can let me know if it still seems soft.

AP

[Bob Miller]

Andrew! I think the main problem is your high ISO. Also when using the 600 mm , you have to use precise technique. I do agree that the water looks cool but I would lighten it up a bit!

[kevin Hice]

Andrew I do like the water but unfortunately it is soft. I have the same problem and am using pretty good equipment. I agree with Arash have seen plenty of Daniels photos and very high Qualty.
Keep at it and good luck.