Night of the Gator

[Roman Kurywczak]

Was out this afternoon and decided to stay out in the Glades for some more star shots. I was in the water.......about ankle deep.....when this guy came by to pay me a visit......my first attempts with the flashlight to paint him.....came out blurry.....some are kind of spooky because i have him moving. Before I got one I really liked.......he got bored with me and left. I did a bunch more without him........even a 1 hour trail one.....just before packing up around midnight......he came back. As I re-positioned my camera......I decided to go back to the car and get my flash......to eliminate his movement......as I came back in the dark.....I put my headlamp on and found him 2 feet from my tripod and my leg. Needless to say......I waited for him to back off to 5 feet.......before I got off 2 30 second images. This was my favorite....because i got the lighting the way I wanted.
Canon Mark 3 with the 17-40mm lens at 17mm for 30 seconds at f4 and ISO 6400. All mounted on tripod.....partially in the lake with bubble level and gator painted with 1 burst of flash.......rest of scene painted with headlamp. Noise Ninja applied in PP.
What a night!

[John Blumenkamp]

Now that's unique night/wildlife photography... :cool: Sounds like a cool encounter. I like the composition you created here. I'm not experienced with star trails, etc, but I might clone the longer light streak toward the middle of the frame. I'd be curious to see your 'spooky' versions too. Always interesting to see what your doing with the camera after the sun goes down. :)

[Jackie Schuknecht]

So good it looks like a faked shot Roman. Very creative set-up, and cool to get the gator. Well done. Wouldn't mind seeing the spooky versions either.

[Sid Garige]

Roman,

Excellent job with painting the water and gator. Also thanks for all the guidance.

-Sid

[Robert Amoruso]

Nice work Roman - very cool looking. I would clone out that bright streak in the water - it is distracting.

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Great work Roman, like the detail and the night sky is beautiful.

Did you have a close lookout for daddy gator as we would not want you to get painted by the gator.