Guys, looking to enter this bad boy in the local camera club competition.
Evil Intent
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1552/...27a5a944b0.jpgEvil Intent~Pat Husband~DCS_6048
Nikon D7000
70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6
F/8.0
SS: 1/160
ISO: 400
Printable View
Guys, looking to enter this bad boy in the local camera club competition.
Evil Intent
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1552/...27a5a944b0.jpgEvil Intent~Pat Husband~DCS_6048
Nikon D7000
70.0-300.0 mm f/4.5-5.6
F/8.0
SS: 1/160
ISO: 400
Alright Pat, you know I never hold back with your pictures. It is a nice picture, however, the scene around the main subject is very similar to the subject itself, which means it kind of gets lost in the frame. I love the reflections, and I love the contrast, it goes very well with this type of subject, but what I mention above is the distracting factor for me.
As an aside, I am not one to like square crops, I lean more towards original aspect ratio's and this may also be contributing to my critique of the shot.
Reflect on your title choice. I think you nailed the title, but ask yourself, when you think of "evil intent", do you think of color? Typically, you think of something darker, and this is not dark, quite the opposite. Have you considered another type of PP? I am not saying it would work better, but just asking if you had another alternative to this shot or other crop.
The competition guideline require a 1400 long edge so I had to lengthen the height. The title was based on the expression on the gators face. This was my original crop. Really not sure what to do with the background. I guess I try to blur it.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1451/...968a048e32.jpgDSC_6048
Played with the "Presense" setting in LR6. Give a different feel to the photo.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1716/...ca1b2de67b.jpgDSC_6048-2
I like it but semi agree with Ricardo. It's a bit distracting to my eyes. Not much you can do about it in some situations but a nice even sky color reflection on the water without the trees or maybe a more hard line vegetation reflection would make it easier to look at and make out the gator. Even without reflections a gator head in the water conveys evil intent pretty well by itself! To bad you couldn't get some more direct sun on that guy.
and appreciate you sharing your knowledge Matt and Ricardo :)
Pat
Pat, as per out text...
Heres your original.... Its hard to do much with the reflections in this pic as Matt and Ricardo said, and it does take away from Mr. Inquisitive in the pic a little.
Attachment 94563
But when I look at the gator magnified alittle its actually kind of soft and if you sharpen it a little it accentuates the differences between it and the water. This edit is a bit exaggerated to make my point. But maybe play around with sharpening the gator.
Attachment 94562
al
What do you think Al? I sharpened the entire picture but that was not the right answer, so I only sharpened the gator. I like the result.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1498/...f2551942fc.jpgDSC_6048-3
Here's a bit larger
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1498/...551942fc_c.jpgDSC_6048-3
I think its better Pat... it just helps the gator stand out.
Darkened the gator just slightly.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1602/...6be7c81b_c.jpgEvil Intent~Pat Husband~DCS_6048DSC_6048-4
I like the Gator sharpened as well!
Have to agree with the above. The gator is the subject so the reflections can be distracting. You also want to be careful not to have the gator to dark.
The BG can be decreased a bit by cutting the saturation just in the BG and decreasing the clarity.
(And I added a tiny eye shine to the left eye. Makes the gator a little more alive!)
(I love playing with edits of my own stuff, and if you don't want me to fool around with your images please say so. Sometimes a picture is easier than a verbal explanation. Also a little harder to get a great result working with a JPEG.)