Nile Crocodile

Hello Nate

VERY Cool! Wow, so defined with the details, Great...Capture!!

The calm waters help show off this guy, with the sweet oof background water,. and the small reflection of the Gator give off a Powerful Image.

What is this Gator? Not familiar with that area. It has an interesting texture/ design over its smooth sections.

Really, one of your Best so far in this forum :)

Thanks for sharing

Bill

Thanks Bill, the Nile Crocodile is one of the largest and most dangerous in the crocodile/alligator family in the world. In fact it's second largest behind the Saltwater Crocodile of Australia, growing up to 20 feet long. Chobe, Botswana area is a great area in Southern Africa to photograph a variety of birds and wildlife, mostly from boats.

Nate,
Remarkably good detail on this one , just out of interest why is the water not blue?

Thanks Ken, the water's color is from reflections of trees and ground near the shoreline.

Great shot, Nate! I like the gloomy atmosphere, it suits the croc. Lovely light on the animal and the water is so smooth.

Really nice colors and the smooth rippled texture in the water is great. Also, I'm seeing really rich tones and contrast here (as I've commented on some of your past bird photos, Nate, they sometimes look flat on my monitor... this one doesn't!).

One question: If this were mine, I'd look at the tilted line separating the croc from the water and would be tempted to straighten it with some clockwise rotation. I'm curious if you considered that and opted for the slightly tilted angle here on purpose. I don't think it necessarily detracts from the image, but I know that I often look at half-submerged objects like this and treat them as I would a horizon by keeping them fairly level in the water. It may simply be a matter of personal preference.

Max

Hi Max, this is a full frame image, if I straightened it at all I would lose valuable space in the front where I have very little because I would have to crop, so I think in this case the small amount of rotation would hurt the image more than it would help it. In most cases I do straighten images in the water to level them.

Love the swirling oof water around the very sharp eye of the croc. The texture of the skin is particularly eye-catching!

Makes perfect sense, Nate. Thanks for the explanation.

Max

The swirling patterns in the water really make the shot. I would be tempted to see if I could pull out some more light and detail in the darker shadows of the lower left. That said, this is very very pleasing as posted.