Alligator in Southern Louisiana

[David N Smith]

I was in S. La. and took an afternoon to do some birding. I didn't get any good shots of birds but I did get some shots of alligators in the wild. A thunderstorm had just passed through so it was overcast when I took this shot. What could I have done to make it better?
Canon 60D, Tamron SP 70-300 @ 154mm, 1/200sec @ f/8, ISO200, HH. Slight crop (maybe 20%), noise reduction in LR3, and slight fill light added.

Thanks for looking.

Dave

[Jeff Cashdollar]

David,

Overcast can be some of my favorite light and I do not think it is an issue here. The first thing that comes to mind are the mid tones. Levels or curves would allow you to dial in more and give the image some needed pop. The crop is alright, might add more space to swim into the frame lets see what other say - could be some other options available. A round of sharpening to the head and eye could make it more powerful as well. Where was your point of focus and did you use center sensor or ring of fire?

Nice job capturing the moment this a deadly killer and ripples at the end give the image a compelling feel - nice work keep em coming.

[David N Smith]

Thanks for your comments Jeff. I wasn't complaining about overcast just making a statement as I like shooting in overcast also. I will have to try levels and/or curves in CS5 and see what I can do. I don't work to much in PS as I usually use LR3 but I need to use PS more. I tried to focused on the left eye and used center sensor.

David

[Jeff Cashdollar]

The image looks good my point was many pros add a touch of black and gray to pop the image. This can be done with any post tool - nice work here.

[John Chardine]

Hi David- The pop that Jeff refers to could also be obtained by pushing the Clarity slider to the right in ACR. This enhances mid-tone contrast. I think the image needs this. Also I would sharpen a bit more.