Four Eyed Water Monster...

[Joseph Przybyla]

Early morning yesterday I captured this image of a American Alligator at Circle B Bar Reserve in Polk County, Florida. I was undecided on how to rotate/align the image, whether to use the waterline or the slit pupil on the alligator and reflection. I decided to use the slit pupil and let the water line fall as it may because the alligator was at a slight angle to me. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

Nikon D500
Nikon 500mm PF + Nikon 1.4 III Teleconverter, camera and lens supported by a Oben carbon fiber monopod with a Wimberly MonoGimbal head
1/3200 F/8 Matrix Metering EV 0 ISO 1000 Auto 1 WB, image captured at 700mm (1050mm 35mm Equivalent)
Post processed in Lightroom Classic, Photoshop CC 2022 and Topaz Denoise AI
Cropped for composition and presentation

P.S. Learn more about Circle B Bar Reserve in the BAA Middle Florida Photography Site Guide that Artie and I co-authored. It is available at this link https://birdsasart-shop.com/the-baa-middle-of-florida-photographic-site-guide/

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joe, nice to see you here.

I like the concept and framing, but to me, it's not quite sharp and there appears to be quite a few artefacts around/halos. Was this a large crop, did you have to lift the exposure?

TFS
Steve

[Jonathan Ashton]

Happy with orientation, there does appear to be an obvious mask line around the subject. The darks in the skin look very dense, I think a little gentle processing on the raw file would reveal more detail, checking out Clarity might increase the perception of sharpness.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joe, nice to see you here.

I like the concept and framing, but to me, it's not quite sharp and there appears to be quite a few artefacts around/halos. Was this a large crop, did you have to lift the exposure?

TFS
Steve

Hi Steve, thank you for viewing and commenting. Water shimmer, I think that is why not quite sharp. A problem in the warmer months here when photographing near the waters surface. I had another go at the image using Topaz to try to eliminate the shimmer. WDYT?

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Joe, If I'm being honest, I think there is too many issues with the original you are pushing a rock up a hill. The OP is sharper, but overall the Blacks are to harsh and solid, leaving very little detail, especially finer detail to come through.

[Joseph Przybyla]

Hi Joe, If I'm being honest, I think there is too many issues with the original you are pushing a rock up a hill. The OP is sharper, but overall the Blacks are to harsh and solid, leaving very little detail, especially finer detail to come through.

Hi Steve, I have to agree with you, too much shimmer close to the water. Thanks again for viewing and commenting.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Joe ... a nice shot and I like the greenery on the back of the head .
But from the technical POV it does not work really ... so I would echo Steve's thoughts here .
The OP has some funky artifacts on the edges ....

TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Joe,

A bit late here, please forgive me...just my thoughts briefly:

Love the image design and reflection as well as POV. For me the subject looks a bit unnatural in terms of colour and IQ is not up to your standards - perhaps a big crop?

The little green branch a nice touch, adds interest. OP seems sharper than the RP - too much noise reduction? At 1/3200s this should have been super sharp. Choice of aperture good, nice techs overall.

Thank you so much for sharing, have a wonderful rest of the week-end!

Kind regards,

[Arthur Morris]

The original is sharper and looks fine to me but for some barely visible artifacting on the edge of the upper eye socket (???) above each eye. And I have to imagine seeing even that. I love the vegetation. I would use the Ruler Tool and got from the bottom of the eye slit to the top of the eye slit in the reflection (which is actually the bottom) :) It looks pretty close to that. To my eyes this is an excellent image. Go figure.

with love, artie