The companion image to this is at the friends and family gallery Might want to check it out
This was made at Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park Alligators are numerous and will come out into the walking paths This particular day there was very little foot traffic so he came out to sun himself
Alligators are not aggressive and tolerate approaches (don not recommend) If they show any signs of discomfort their mouth will slowly open and hiss Time to respect the animal give some room right away
Comments welcome and much appreciated
Nikon D200
200-400 VR 1.7X
f 6.7 1/180 sec
Av -1
Flash - 1 2/3
ISO 800
Comp really works here Al... Great idea getting eye level. It is so important for wildife portraits. The teeth are prominant and very sharp (in several ways). You've lost sharpness on the eyes. Probably could have stopped down to about F11 and had a bit more DOF to include both eyes and nose...
I like the focus on the teeth. Just a thought on the left eye! If in your ethics, would this be a candidate for Robert O'Tooles Ouick mask technique. Select the right eye and then do a free transform. Grab and pull the right vertical line horizontal to the left until it is the right proportion, then move it in to replace the left eye.Just a thought! And thanks for for help on getting me started on the forum.
Best,
Howard.
Nice view of the gator, Al. I agree that some more dof would help. To emphasize the teeth, perhaps a bigger lens/and or/less dof, would throw the eyes further oof and not leave me wishing they were shop. YOUR EC (ethics committee) will have to deal with the eye issue!
You've chosen a lovely low angle here. Looking at the DOF I think you wanted to emphasize the teeth here. Not sure if it really works with the DOF/focal lenght you've chose. I agree with Milo that a longer focallenght might have been better as it would throw the eyes further OOF.