single photos Young American Alligator - UNMANIPULATED and IN THE WILD (not a ZOO shot)

Fantastic photo!

Fantastic detail and great colour.  Interesting to see him in his natural setting, too, and I like the reflection of his jaws.  The image would be even better, in my opinion, if the alligator's head and its shadow had more room. 

Margo has the right idea here................... more space around the reflection would add to the image. I'm not too good at adding canvas area (so didn't try) but I did crop a little to try for a different presentation..... one with a little more impact...............

Well spotted and a good capture.............

Regards

I did not realize there was ANY reflection in the water until I got the image up on the computer. If there is an okay reflection I tend to leave it in for the people that do like it.

I post my images as UNMANIPULATED and I only shoot stuff in THE WILD but neither gets any credit around here. So, it seems unless I get REALLY LUCKY or if I start shooting all the crap in ZOOS and then really work hard on my Photo Shop Skills, my photos will remain AVERAGE (4) crap here on Photo.net. ;) ....and I am okay with that. :)

I will likely try to give my subjects a little more space in the future to see if I can't get better reflections...then just crop the image if I have to...or take some shots tight and some shots with space...maybe I will get a good one next time.

I'm sorry if my comments have got you a little rattled..... certainly not my intention.

I am pleased that you (like me) are not a Zoo person, but irrespective of what and where you shoot, my past comments have all been about how your image is presented to the viewer. My above crop could only remove what did not need to be there..... I could not add what I would have liked, which would have been more image to the left and bottom.

With wildlife photography we need to be able to "see" the image before we raise the camera to our eye......... the framing is very important. We can always crop some out, but its  damn difficult to add to.

I like your thoughts on your future shoots...... zooming in and out..... your results will give you more choice, however, try to do it with your eye/mind and then take that awesome shot. You, like me, aspire to show the viewer what your saw, and that is commendable. 

Critiques are not easy, and it is never the intention of anyone here on PN to upset/annoy posters.......... most of us view photography as a lifelong learning curve and we all try to pass on some accolades in every image... not always too successfully I'm afraid.

Best regards

ps: future tip.......... forget about the rating system.... old boys club. There are many forum postings - for and against. I don't bother to rate unless I post a comment as well. G

No offense taken at all Grayham.  Your feedback has all been good and appreciated, thank you.  I am just generally frustrated with "playing" the ratings game I guess...but for some reason I still want to play.  ;)

Hi Greg, didn't mean to upset you, either.  I too like to shoot things as I find them and the way you've captured the natural setting is one of the pluses of your image.  Ignore the ratings - I do.  I haven't rated or asked for ratings for ages - I find them uninformative and often destructive.  One of the best things PN has done in recent times is to downplay the significance of the ratings by moving them to a link at the bottom of the home page.  Kind regards, Margo.