American Alligator

[Rod Wiley]

This image was taken yesterday. I don't normally photograph gators but I liked the expression the animal has and the contact with the camera. Rod

Nikon D300
f4 500 with 1.4
-0.7 EV 1/320 ISO 200

www.rjwileyphoto.com (http://www.rjwileyphoto.com)
www.adayintheswamp.com (http://www.adayintheswamp.com)

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Rod,
I would have preferred a wider crop. The open mouth is interesting.

[Robert Amoruso]

Rod,

I think the face and expression looks great and that is your center of interest. I agree with Sabyasachi here a wider crop not cutting the tail and have the tail and feet so close to the edge would be better.

However, it was the face that interested you and that is what you can concentrate on. I recropped it and did a PSCS shadows/highlights correction on highlights only at amount and tonal width around 50. This tones down the contrast in the highlights and restores the color and detail.

[Ed Cordes]

Too bad the top of the tail was clipped. I like the tight crop better.

[Steve Canuel]

Interesting comments on the crop. A wider one including the tail would've allowed the "S" curve of the tail to lead the viewer's eye to the head/mouth. A close crop of just the head would've showed off the textures of the head and those pearly whites. Both would work well. A lower angle would've been nice if it didn't put you into the swamp!

[john holmes]

I like it as is-glad to see you were at 700mm