Oh this water is cold........

[Jim_Zablotny]

Image Description

Our pond is used by many species of wildlife and this includes turtles. This guy was sunning itself and decided to go for a cooling dip. Fortunately, the cold pond water prevented the turtle from making a quick get away. I did have to crawl on my belly and hang out over the edge of the pond to get the shot. I also used three flashes to eliminate harsh shadows and separate the turtle from the BG.

Specific Feedback and Self-Critique

I liked how the turtle was floating peacefully in the pond. I had to deal with strong sunlight with a backlit subject. So I used a master and 2 macro slave flashes to provide enough lighting while preserving essential shadows. Please let me know what you think. And the only reason that I got this shot was that the turtle decided not to wait for warmer temperatures.

Technical Details

Z9 105mm f2.8 micro (1/200 sec at f16, ISO 250) Levels, crop for comp, 3 flashes set at variable power to light up shadows, crop for comp, rubber stamp tool to remove some back scatter, Hue and Saturation to reduce blue-green color of water. I also blurred the edge of a shadow from a nearby dock.

[Diane_Miller]

Wonderful subject, lighting, pose and detail!! Amazing it gave you time to grab the lighting! But you got a perfect result with it – completely natural looking. The clarity under the water level is so nice, and the bottom of the pond nicely subdued.

[Mark_Seaver]

Jim, having spent several days recently shooting turtles, I know how hard you worked for this scene. In my experience, it’s also rare to get these critters swimming with this much of their body out of the water. The details in the turtle are excellent as is the sharpness across most of the turtle.