Sometimes you get so caught up shooting one thing, you miss another thing, and in this case, fortunately it was a juvenile American Alligator and I was standing in its crossing place from one side of the road to another pond. I moved over about 15 feet and he ambled on across the road, slipping easily into the water. It was kind of creepy.
Specific Feedback Requested
Dang greens and yellows… too green, too yellow? (Shot in the very early morning rising sun light.)
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
D800, 80-400 @80mm, ISO 640, f/5.6
A few white’s mask for lightness and color, one dark mask for contrast and the general ACR with a bit of a curves adj.
I don’t think your yellows and greens are a problem, in fact I think they work quite well–the darker stalks, the lighter vegetation near the water line…I think that works well. I also like the contrast of both to browns and the reds and browns below and above respectively, especially the way the paler reddish brown up top seems to fade in to the pale jade green in the center.
I also like the overhanging branch…really makes the alligator look sneaky, unexpected. Glad all limbs were preserved in the taking of this photo!
Cool shot, cool story. The colors look fine to me, although I could see toning down the brightness on the light green duckweed on the water surface around the gator, and maybe a radial filter brightening the gator itself. Also, cloning out or burning some of the bright bits in the lower grasses. Here’s my thought (my radial filter on the gator isn’t that great, but you get the idea):
