Australian Water-rat

[Simon Bennett]

Australian Water-rat Hydromys chrysogaster photographed in a local park around dawn. These are a decent size rat with head-body length of 30cm or 16".

Canon 400D, EF400 f/5.6, 580EX flash + gold diffuser, tripod, partial metering, ISO400, 1/200, f/5.6. full frame.

[Robert Amoruso]

Simon,

Good detail in the rat given the luminosity of the water. THis really reminds me of my wetland images here in FL under a moderate overcast condition - still a lot of contrast.

I will usually do a Curve Adjustment in PSCS3 using a reverse s-curve which is just a reverse of a normal s-curve. That lowers contrast and opens up shadows. In the repost I did just that plus recropped it to move the rat out of the center of the image. You may need a leave a bit more room in the back end for his virtual tail that is underwater, moving him out of the center will help to improve the image's impact.

You did well with the exposure here. Thanks for posting.

[Fabs Forns]

I like Robert's repost. Wish you had a polarizer to cut so much glare.

[Robert Amoruso]

I like Robert's repost. Wish you had a polarizer to cut so much glare.

Good point on the polarizer, I missed that. Thanks Fabs.