Gatorland Gator (Captive)

[Robert Amoruso]

Besides the birds at Gatorland, we have gators. Big surprise.:D

I was attracted to this guy because of the interesting pattern he and his reflection formed in the water as well as the high-contrast look. I accentuated the contrast in processing to my liking. The fact that he is turned away is not an issue for me as I can see the head and eye clearly and it is the shape of the back, the reflection and the light that I like best.

Three images stitched. each one was focused on the gator to get all of him in focus.

Canon 50D
600mm + 1.4x TC
1/320 sec, f/8
Av
Evaluative
ISO: 800
Flash exp comp: +3

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Robert,
Really nice contrast between the gator and the water color and I like the way the pano crop accentuates the curves and shape of the gator. Very nice detail on the spine.....and for that matter throughout! A bit more of a HA towards us....maybe???....but I agree that since everything is tack sharp (can even see the teeth).....this one works for me also. +3 on the flash!!!.....too bright or too far away?...and it reached??

[Robert Amoruso]

Roman,

+3 flash gives just a bit of fill on the shadow side of the gator, but I ended up going high-contrast so that was for not.

Three image stitch, forgot to mention that, gut I focused each one on the gator so got him all in focus even though he is angled away. I will have to add that to the image comments above as that is an important consideration.

Thanks for commenting.

[Rene Quenneville]

Very nice Robert. Superb composition and crop. The colors in the water look great. You could even enhance them by masking the gator and then s&h + saturation on the water. Just a thought.

[Steve Maxson]

I really like the gator/reflection combo here and the high-contrast look you have achieved, Robert. The tight pano crop works great on this one. I don't have any issue with the head angle. Very well done.

[Steve Canuel]

Hi Robert,
I like the tight pano comp. Water color/texture is nice and goes well with the gator. The eye is still visible so I have no issue with the head angle myself. Gator and reflection made me think of the double helix.