Up-close and Personal

I do get the sense of well quiet and slow movement. At first I thought it was dead in the water but a closer look showed it was indeed moving. Towards you. I like the little bit of sunlight on the eye and the tops of the scutes along the back. Helps to define this big old critter. Exposure looks good and the colors are reasonable. Well done.

Great look at that eye. Overall, it has a blue/green cast to it. I might try playing with the white balance a bit.

Hi I really like the point of view on this and low level. I agree with the blue or green cast too

Luke,

I took a shot at selectively changing the white balance on just the gator. Hope you don't mind.

Jerry

Jerry - not at all! I think it's an improvement. I neglected to mention that I processed this on my wife's laptop so it was likely to not come out the way it would had I done it on my computer. Thanks

As I look on my monitor, the sense of slow, quiet movement comes through Luke. The side-lighting is effective. With the textural contrast between gator and water, this may also work well in B&W.

Not too sure I'd be staying on that boardwalk much longer

Hi Luke,

Interesting shot - definitely a "foreboding" feel to it! Overall I like the shot...just a few thoughts...

1. Compositionally I think the shot might be slightly stronger if the subject was a little "shoved" to the left. Not sure if this is a crop or not, but if you have the room I'd experiment with that.

2. I don't mind the bluish cast at all - with a blue sky a wet scaly animal can easily take on a natural bluish tinge. And aesthetically I prefer the original bluish post over Jerry's re-working of it (personal preference thing).

3. Shooting from even a lower angle (maybe laying on the boardwalk??) might have produced an alternate interesting shot as well. And, hey, these guys gotta eat too!

Cheers...

Brad