Eastern Painted Turtle

[Andrew McLachlan]

I have been unable to find any Bullfrog so far this season in the wetland at the cottage on Horseshoe Lake, but I have been having luck with turtles and water snakes. I have heard one male bullfrog chorusing, but have not been able to locate him. We had a very cool spring which I believe has resulted in the wetland vegetation's growth cycle being behind schedule and not providing enough coverage for the frogs in the more open areas of the marsh, therefore they are hiding among the dense thickets of brush along the wetland edges. On a recent paddle through the wetland I did encounter this juvenile Eastern Painted Turtle that was small enough to bask on a yellow pond lily leaf. I seated myself in the bottom of the canoe and used the gunwale to provide additional support to steady the hand-held capture. A polarizing filter was also used to control the glare from the vegetation and turtle's carapace.

Nikon D500
Nikon 200-500mm lens @ 500mm (35mm equivalent = 750mm)
ISO 400
f8 @ 1/250 sec
B&W 95mm Polarizing Filter
Hand-held

Looking forward to comments and suggestions

[Daniel Grossi]

What a handsome turtle Andrew! Looks nice and sharp - well handled at 1/250. I wonder what -10 on the yellows would do for this? Although I love the pad he's standing on, it seems just a touch too vibrant.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi matey, nice to see posting here, but was hoping for the 'snapping T' .

Love the vibrant colours, they work so well here, likewise the low POV, just makes it. Not a lover of the dying leaf on the LHS, but... I would like to see the highlight by the mouth removed and the other highlights toned down, but your call. Perhaps also 'darken' (your call in choice of method) that dark strip at the foot may help, but still retaining the detail/clarity.

From my understanding you can easily push the ISO on the 500, something I have suggested to Daniel, as HH in a kayak at that speed must be hard, would welcome any thoughts you have Andrew, as I'm sure Daniel would. Good call on the CP filter, something rarely used here for some strange reason. BTW say a cool rig for a kayak for a longer lens .

TFS
Steve

[John Mack]

Nice shot of this turtle like the low angle and the reflection.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks folks for the comments and suggestions.

Steve...that leaf bugs me too. I may work on evicting it. By the time I was able to move the canoe into position to get the leaf out of the frame the turtle had changed its position and I lost the impact that this frame had. I cloned a few highlights but left the others in to see what folks think...I will work on evicting the additional ones too. I will often up the ISO on the D500 but do like to start out around 400 and move upwards from there if need be. The VR on the 200-500mm lens is excellent and does allow me to hand-hold at shutter speeds I never would have dreamed of using....I will share the Snapping Turtle image later this evening

[haseeb badar]

Hi Andrew -- A very nice image and beautiful specimen ! I think Steve has summed up quite well especially the highlights part. Nice that you were able to get that slightest of reflection. The subject is nicely standing out against those vibrant settings .

TFS !

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andrew - I will echo that I very much like the colors and low pov here. I too would tame the specular highlights. The only thing I wish for is a little more of the reflection to be showing but understand that it wasn't possible with the foliage. I hope you find your bullfrogs but I look forward to more turtles too.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks Rachel and Haseeb for the additional comments

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Andrew good to see some variation ...i like the overall image as presented , apart from the dry leaf .
Colors a bit Velvia like ....
Lovely detail and sharp where it counts ,for me no need of removing the tiny catchlights.
TFS Andreas

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Andrew,

Glad to see you posting here again! I have always been a great fan of your Bullfrog images, now Turtle ones too. Nice framing and I love the colours, sharp for 1/250s (I too think you could push the D500 a bit more). DoF is great and I don't mind the specular lights as such, the brown leaf I am not so sure...Excellent perspective and I like the use of a polarising filter - I just bought one not long ago but forgot about it, thank you for reminding me

Is there a Bullfrog image in your folders we haven't seen yet? If so, bring it on!

A pleasure to view, thank you for sharing,

Kind regards,