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Thread: American Alligator

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    Default American Alligator

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    This image was captured last March at Gatorland in Orlando, Florida. I was at the rookery photographing birds. The Egrets and Herons have chosen the breeding ponds to establish the rookery using the alligators in the water below to protect the nests from raccoons and other creatures that would raid the nests. Comments and critique welcomed and appreciated. Thank you for viewing.

    Nikon D7000
    Nikon 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 VRII AF shot at 210mm (345mm FFE)
    1/800 F/8 -1 1/3 EV ISO 450
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

    www.amazinglight.smugmug.com

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    Wildlife Moderator Steve Kaluski's Avatar
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    Hi Joe, nice to see you venturing into other parts of the Forum.

    Certainly a formidable character and I like the angle and the fact he/she is raised out of the water, was this baited to lure them up? Although on an uncalibrated monitor, I feel it's a little too cool and just adjusting the WB seems to help? I might also be tempted to selectively reduce the amount of blue within the subject. Adjusting the exposure down on the white of the 'throat' brings out a bit more tonal depth which I feel is nice. Overall some careful/selective adj in exp on the subject does create more form & texture within your original capture and takes it up a few notches, I might even increase some sharpening too, but just my take.

    Nice to see a different subject too.

    TFS
    Steve

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    BPN Member Mark Needham's Avatar
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    Nice image, Joe! In addition to what Steve suggested, are you able to pull back the crop a bit to give more space on the right (a bit tight here), and also create some more negative space on the left so the gator is not centered in the image so much? Of course, if this is full frame, it is not possible without some creative content-aware to create a larger canvas. I also find the water behind the gator a bit distracting, leaving little to separate the gator from the background water - maybe reduce the structure or create a bit of blur on the background to shallow the DOF just a bit? Just a thought.

    Cheers and TFS

    Mark

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    BPN Member Morkel Erasmus's Avatar
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    Cool character here Joe.
    In addition to the feedback above, if you have the space I would consider a CW rotation. Everything about this feels like it's slanting to the left, perhaps exacerbated by the reflections/ripples?
    Morkel Erasmus

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    Lifetime Member Rachel Hollander's Avatar
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    Hi Joe - Nice to see an alligator. We haven't had many posted that I can recall. Nice pose with the head out of the water. Steve, Mark and Morkel have covered the critique well.

    TFS,
    Rachel

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    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Kaluski View Post
    Hi Joe, nice to see you venturing into other parts of the Forum.

    Certainly a formidable character and I like the angle and the fact he/she is raised out of the water, was this baited to lure them up? Although on an uncalibrated monitor, I feel it's a little too cool and just adjusting the WB seems to help? I might also be tempted to selectively reduce the amount of blue within the subject. Adjusting the exposure down on the white of the 'throat' brings out a bit more tonal depth which I feel is nice. Overall some careful/selective adj in exp on the subject does create more form & texture within your original capture and takes it up a few notches, I might even increase some sharpening too, but just my take.

    Nice to see a different subject too.

    TFS
    Steve
    Hello Steve, thank you for viewing and commenting. No, not baited, it was breeding season and during that time the males raise out of the water making a bellowing roar. When they hit the right frequency the water ripples and boils. The ripples under the chin are caused by his roar.
    Joe Przybyla

    "Sometimes I do get to places just as God is ready to have somebody click the shutter"... Ansel Adams

    www.amazinglight.smugmug.com

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