Alligator Among the Coulds and Duckweed

Happy Sunday!

So, we are walking the boardwalk at Green Cay Wetlands last Monday, focused on the birds, and this lady says as we pass, “There’s an Alligator right here.” We look down over the rail, and…she’s right. Right there, obviously hoping one of those Moorehens is a lot stupider than it looks. Oh yes. We are in Florida now. I take pictures. Of the Alligator.

Only when reviewing the pictures for processing do I see the amazing cloud reflections, the patterns of duckweed on the water, the way the reeds and mud frame the shot and turn it into a graphic mirror. I forget, until I enlarge the image for development, that there is an Alligator there at all. I think maybe I just took it for the patterns. Now, when I look at it,  I see the Alligator floating in the clouds and duckweed, kind of a metaphor for beauty. And I like it.

Sony DCS H50 at about 35mm equivalent. F4.5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Programed auto.

Cropped in Lightroom to remove some distracting vegetation along one edge. Blackpoint to the right. Added Clarity and Vibrance. A touch of Recovery to emphasize the cloud reflections. Sharpen landscape preset.

And here is the alternative view, at 60mm equivalent, where the the Alligator is more prominent…though the floating in clouds effect is still there.

More Alligator, Less Clouds

From Green Cay, FL.