Jacare Caiman

Gallery: WildlifePosted November 27, 2015138 views13 comments

One of the reasons there are quite a few Jaguar in the Pantanal region of Brazil is that there are so many caiman which are it's favorite food. This is the smaller and more common of the 2 caiman species, the other being the larger Black Caiman. I was attracted to the similar but opposite poses of these two. I cropped it to a pano to remove some out of focus items on the bottom and some banding in the water on the top.
Canon 7D2, 500F4 1/2000 F6.3, iso 400, handheld from boat.

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Ingrid Vekemans on November 27, 2015 at 2:30 PM

Ah...I love the pose of these two, which you made into a powerful shot by choosing your POV and composition well. Nice shot!
Grt, Ingrid.

Registered on August 2, 2010, 138 Posts, 780 Comments

Comment posted by Kathy Barnhart on November 27, 2015 at 6:15 PM

This is a dynamic duo indeed, and very impressive teeth of both. I like the way the one on the left is out of focus, and they way your eye goes to deep inside of the pink mouth lined by those sharp teeth. This is a wonderful look at these guys, from the side and head on. Great shot! I don't think I'd like to see the jaguar tangle with one.

Registered on November 11, 2011, 404 Posts, 1639 Comments

Comment posted by Cay-Uwe Kulzer on November 28, 2015 at 3:26 AM

Nate,

I like the idea of the image very much and may have tried to get a bit more from the background caiman into the picture by moving te camera a bit more to the left, if the time would have allowed it enlightened

Registered on January 27, 2004, 494 Posts, 4021 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Watkins on November 28, 2015 at 4:12 AM

Nate,
Even if they are small I would not want to get a bite from one sad

Wonderful composition devil

Registered on December 15, 2010, 1537 Posts, 4877 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on November 28, 2015 at 4:13 AM

Neat arrangement n beautiful frame!
Jagdeep Rajput

Registered on April 29, 2008, 686 Posts, 2857 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on November 28, 2015 at 9:54 AM

A really cool image - I like the in-focus and out-of-focus looks with contrasting angles. Good low viewpoint and you handled the DR well

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Nate Chappell on November 28, 2015 at 10:27 AM

Thanks for your comments. I am attaching the original uncropped file to give an illustration of why I cropped it as I did. You can see the banding and out of focus elements that I mentioned. In addition the right arm of the left alligator was reflecting the sun so it's very bright and distracting. Also cropping it as I did focuses all the attention on the mouths and heads of the caiman which is where it should be.

Registered on February 1, 2006, 1158 Posts, 19528 Comments

Comment posted by Cay-Uwe Kulzer on November 28, 2015 at 11:40 AM

Thanks for the inclusion of the original image which very well explains your decision devil

Registered on January 27, 2004, 494 Posts, 4021 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on November 28, 2015 at 8:17 PM

Nate, this is a nice composition. I think they're laid out perfectly, and the pano crop was the right choice (typed that before I even saw what sort of interference/distractions you were dealing with).

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on November 29, 2015 at 9:23 AM

Hey Nate,

Neat "juxtaposition" of the two caimans here. Those teeth look downright scary on BOTH of them!

While I find panos being a little over-used these days (just a personal feeling), I think this is a case where the pano crop suits the subject matter very well and enhances the image.

Thanks for sharing this one!

Cheers...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Hisham Atallah on November 29, 2015 at 10:29 AM

Hi Nate
Nice thing about the pano is that it mirrors the shape of the caiman on top of getting rid of the ditractions. I like it!

Cheers,

Hisham.

Registered on November 5, 2014, 121 Posts, 352 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Minish on November 29, 2015 at 9:16 PM

A great capture, Nate! I agree with your choice of crop as it puts the focus on the Caimans rather than the messy background and foreground. The OOF caiman adds a lot to the scene just by it's presence. The image wouldn't be as impressive with just the single caiman in the foreground.

Registered on February 4, 2006, 625 Posts, 3583 Comments

Comment posted by David Bogener on December 1, 2015 at 3:52 PM

Wow. Great light and detail on the foreground camian. He really pops off the darker green background. The OOF background camian adds to the composition IMO. Very nice.

Registered on October 30, 2013, 417 Posts, 1255 Comments