I was looking for birds at a local wildlife refuge, but I found a rather large snapping turtle. I believe he just came out of hibernation as he was covered in a thick dried mud, and he just sat there, basking in the sun. The contrast wasn't very harsh as he was in shadow, but the late day sun cast a nice warm color. I found him really hard to photograph, I guess being stuck with a 300/4 prime makes life harder then with a zoom compositionally. I wish he would have had maybe a bit more direct sun to really liven up the details. Also the crop might be a bit too tight on top and I might have over sharpened a bit, tell me what you guys think.
Sony A77, Tokina 300/4, F/7.1, ISO 500, 1/400s, Manual, 2014, (there is an OOF piece of grass starting to go into his face from the bottom so I cloned most of it out)
Nice detail and BG here Dvir, the sharpening looks OK on my cal monitor and agree that just a tad more room above would be preferable, you wouldn't want your fingers anywhere near that jaw from what I read.
yeah they look slow, but they turn lightening fast when it comes to their ability to bite down on something. And they easily have the power to tear off a finger. I made sure to steer well clear of that area, the 2m minimum focusing distance of my lens helped keep things that way.
Last edited by Dvir Barkay; 04-16-2014 at 11:30 AM.
Hi Dvir - Nice low pov and the sharpening looks fine to me too. I could tell that you had cloned grass from the chin area though before reading your description. There's some green there and it's a little softer in that area.
I know you've posted a comment here and there on other people's images in Wildlife. The best way to get the most out of BPN and to learn is to participate often. We recommend commenting on at least 3-5 other wildlife images each time you post one of your own.
Thanks for the comments. There were two strands of grass I left the shorter one, the one you can see. The other one was a bit above, that one I fully cloned out. I usually don't post in wildlife, that is why I usually never even get into the comments section. I am usually more in the landscape one, but I shall try to be more active, especially in the wildlife forum.
I'm fine with the comp/framing - the image gives me the feeling of being right there lying on the grass with it.
I would look at perhaps brightening up the midtones a bit - it seems a bit flat (probably due to lighting conditions at the time).
Always great to see something different and this is one special sighting, thank you for sharing with us!
Great angle and I like the way your subject is placed in the frame, colours are vibrant yet very natural, enjoyed viewing this very much, hope you visit the Wildlife forum more often and looking forward to more images from you!