Yucatan Caiman

[greg cowle]

Don't see a lot of crocodilians posted, but I took this last year in the Pantanal, a Yucatan Caiman thrashing around trying to turn an armored catfish to swallow. The armor was making the process difficult... From a speedboat, the caiman luckily moved into a bright spot on the bank. The splash indicates the effort he needed to turn the fish.
Canon 5DIII + 400/2.8II handheld.
f4.5, 1/1000, ISO320, processed in Lightroom.
Greg

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Greg, Bad day for the fish! Really like the action here with the splash from the tail and the light falling right on the head and jaws.

A slightly tighter crop would probably add to the sense of menace and drama, but that's just my take on it.

Nice to see a different species. I'm trying to get a sense of scale so I can understand the size of the beast. How big is he?

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Greg - Nice to see something different and the low pov works quite well. I like the warm light hitting the fish and teeth and the splash adds for me. The strong shadows are unfortunate but not much you could do. There's a slight blue cast to the shadowed part of the body but likely natural. My biggest issue with the image is the sloping bank in the fg. I wish it was all water. Looking forward to more.

TFS,
Rachel

[Jonathan Ashton]

What great action well caught especially given the circumstances. I agree with Rachel regarding the blues, removing or at least lowering does improve the detail on the right flank.
Maybe you could disguise the foreground a little with some water????

[greg cowle]

My correction, not sure what I was thinking, this is a YACARE caiman. Gerald, they grow to about 2.5m in length, this was a big guy, the fish was probably 40cm+.

Thanks all for the comments on the crop and color, I'll go back in and see what I can do. The bank is unfortunate, the caiman needed to get on it for leverage.

Greg

[Glenn Pure]

Excellent action shot, Greg. I like the shaft of light on the head of the caiman highlighting just the right spot! Great timing to get that. Detail looks excellent and you've done well with the tone and colour in difficult lighting. Thanks for sharing. BTW the bank doesn't bother me as it tends to blend somewhat with the foreground water due to similarity in tone.

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Greg works well as presented , for me.
I do like all the colors and tones , all does look balanced to me.
The caught fish is a very cool addition and tells story .
Nice work and well timed shot
TFS Andreas