Snapping Turtle

[Andrew McLachlan]

Found this Snapping Turtle at rest on an old log that is sitting in the middle of the wetland at the cottage on Horseshoe Lake near Parry Sound, Ontario. This large log used to sit along the wetland edge but high water levels on the lake in spring floated it out into the middle of the wetland, placing it in a more photogenic spot. The log is a favourite sunning spot for the turtles that reside in the wetland. As with my previous turtle post this was also photographed hand-held from the canoe by sitting in the bottom of the canoe and resting the lens on the gunwale for additional stability. A passing cloud provided the necessary cover for even lighting however, a polarizing filter was still required to reduce additional glare from the vegetation and the turtle's carapace.

Nikon D500
Nikon 200-500mm lens @ 360mm (35mm equivalent = 540mm)
ISO 800
f8 @ 1.125 sec (-0.33)
B&W 95mm Polarizing Filter
Hand-held

Looking forward to comments and suggestions.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andrew - Again great low pov. I think you mean 1/125 as the ss rather than over a second. Either way I would want a higher ss from a canoe on water. I like the bit of vegetation over the shell and that we can see the foot although there's a bit of movement in the foot. I don't know a lot about the colors of these turtles but there's a lot of blue coming through on the head and shell in particular. There's also a slight magenta cast to the body. Great to see another species.

TFS,
Rachel

[Daniel Grossi]

This one is a lot of fun Andrew, I wonder how old this turtle is... The first thing I noticed from a critique perspective was the blue saturation. I know we all handle it it in different ways, but perhaps an HSL -10 blue saturation and +10 in blue luminosity would take care of it. Awesome image, glad you shared it here.

[haseeb badar]

Hi ANdrew -- Look at those eyes, quite unique, have never seen something like this before . Quite busy settings but all adding to the environment in which they thrive, I am not on a proper monitor to comment on the colours but as mentioned above it appears as lots of blue is creeping in especially on its head. All in all i liked this image , mainly because of those eyes.

TFS !

[Sanjeev Aurangabadkar]

A nice image of the snapping turtle Andrew. I like the low POV, the habitat and the eye contact. Agree with Rachel regarding the colours, an easy fix if inclined.

[John Mack]

Cool looking snapper here looks like a pretty big one. Like the low angle and the vegetation on the shell.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Much appreciate the comments folks. I will address the blue cast on the shell...thanks for pointing that out...I do miss color casts at times.

[Steve Kaluski]

f8 @ 1.125 sec (-0.33)

Hi Andrew, I have my doubts on this one as to whether the filter did you any favours on this one Andrew, especially in terms of SS, I feel removal would have given you a better capture and you could then have dealt with glare in PP, WDYT? The colours do appear a bit off and overall a bit 'grungy' or is that what you wished for with this particular subject, it's all pushed in the darks & contrast? The low POV makes it, but would have liked a bit more DoF, I think you could push the D500, Daniel took his to 6400 and with some careful NR the image looked fine, very sharp.

TFS
Steve

[Steve Kaluski]

I do miss color casts at times.

Andrew, not sure if you are implying you might not see certain casts, if so let me know (PM) I have some stuff that might help, if I can remember where it was, especially if you use PS.

[Daniel Cadieux]

I love the loafing pose! Neat wetlands habitat, although I do wish the yellow lily pad along the bottom was not there. The strewn vegetation across the carapace is a neat touch.

[Melissa Usrey]

Love the turtle's expression! I don't know how you managed to get that low and not shake the camera, but this is great!

[Andrew McLachlan]

I love the loafing pose! Neat wetlands habitat, although I do wish the yellow lily pad along the bottom was not there. The strewn vegetation across the carapace is a neat touch.

Thanks Daniel...ditto on the dead lily pad leaf...I did clone out the dead stock of the leaf that was pointing upwards.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Much appreciated Melissa!

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Andrew, I have my doubts on this one as to whether the filter did you any favours on this one Andrew, especially in terms of SS, I feel removal would have given you a better capture and you could then have dealt with glare in PP, WDYT? The colours do appear a bit off and overall a bit 'grungy' or is that what you wished for with this particular subject, it's all pushed in the darks & contrast? The low POV makes it, but would have liked a bit more DoF, I think you could push the D500, Daniel took his to 6400 and with some careful NR the image looked fine, very sharp.

TFS
Steve

Thanks Steve...yes SS should have read 1/125 sec....as a landscaper the polarizing filter is my number one filter...I applied detail extractor to the turtle and reduced the opacity to 30%, perhaps should have reduced it a touch further...will need to experiment with higher ISO on the D500...will shoot you an email on the colour casts :)