You cannot go to Brazos Bend State
Park and not come back with a few photos of alligators. In reality, alligators are not really
that exciting to photograph.
Still, I always photograph them when I am at the park.
This young male alligator was lifting
his head out of the water and roaring.
He was in a vocal war with an older and much larger alligator. I wanted
to capture him coming out of water and doing “his thing”, but I also wanted to
create a little mood to the photo.
Luckily, he swam from the shade to a pocket of light. So, I waited until
he got to the light and took about ten shots of him in the light.
To me, this photograph is as much
about the light as it is about the alligator.
Enjoy.
Camera settings: Nikon D800 (DX
format), 80-400mm f/4.5~5.6 at 600mm (effectively), ISO 400, f/8 at 1/350th
of a second on a tripod.
Post Processing:
Lightroom 5—applied Nikon
Vivid preset during import, set white and black points, added clarity,
sharpness and vibrance and burned top and bottom of photo using the adjustment
brush.
I can just hear the deep growl. You caught him with a smile on his face. Like the surrounding that frames him.
ReplyDeleteI like how the light hit him. David is right, he has a smile on his face.
ReplyDeleteTaylor
Not your normal alligator shot.
ReplyDeleteTelly