Alligator andCoots

[David Chauvin]

The gators are starting to lay out now that the days are warming up. I rarely use extenders in combination, but the light on the inside of this big guys mouth made me push the issue a little. I'm pleasantly surprised at the level of sharpness with this combination. I think the coots add context to life in the marsh.

30D, 500mm + 2x + 1.4x, 1/160 sec, f11, iso 640, beanbag, cropped from top and bottom for composition

David
Laplace, LA

[Robert Amoruso]

David,

You did well here with the contrastly light and the glow in the mouth really catches the light. IMO it is very hard to get a good image of these guys on land. Your BG of the stalks is graphic and compliments him well. I am not sure about the coots. I don't dislike them but think I would have preferred not to have them there due to the graphic look of the BG. I would also suggest that a bit of the OOF FG bottom can be cropped. Nice work on a tough subject.

[Ed Cordes]

Great pink mouth. Yes, the stacked extenders did quite well. The gator is nicely detailed. On my monitor the upper BG has a lot of artifacts. That said, I think it is better to leave them than crop down more.

[D. Robert Franz]

The glowing mouth of the gator is outstanding. A busy BG for sure but it was a tradeoff to get the full effect of the mouth glow..... I might go with Robert on the coots they seem to make the BG busier than it would have been.

[Steve Maxson]

I really like the light on the gator, but the busy background doesn't work for me.

[David Chauvin]

First let me say that I rarely give any of my feelings about the intent of an image up front. I believe images should stand alone with as little editorial comment as possible by the photographer. It is a visual art after all. Next let me say thanks for the input.

There are a few things I'd like to improve with this image. The specular high lights on the foliage are the worst for me, but being back lit with fairly harsh light the hot spots were inevitable. The stacked converters also created some pretty severe blue fringing on the spots. I typically would not even shoot in those conditions unless the subject was unique in my experience.

I love a clean bg as much as the next guy, but in this image I think the clutter actually adds to the image. This image to me is more a story of life in the marsh as opposed to a pretty picture. I have a few frames without the coots and less grass that focus on the gator, but it still isn't a "pretty picture" so it's even less appealing to me.

I hope that you don't think I'm being defensive or rejecting any input,,,,,it is always of great value. It's just that I'm looking at this from a slightly different stand point.

Thanks again for the feedback,,,,,,,,David