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Map Turtle (but where’s the map?)


Map Turtle (but where’s the map?)
Photo Information
Copyright: Serge Gagne (sergegagne) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 150 W: 1 N: 136] (401)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2005-01-19
Categories: Reptiles
Camera: Canon EOS 300D, Canon 18-55mm
Exposure: f/5.6, 1/13 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): Reptiles of Canada, 50 - 60 points (chapter two) [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2005-02-09 21:15
Viewed: 2335
Favorites: 2 [view]
Points: 55
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note [French]
Lately, I was practicing my (still quite basic) skills at post-processing and I decided to work with an “old” image, captured in January.

Shooting conditions
Image captured in the amphibians and reptiles section of the Ecomuseum. I was there with Luc, who has already posted great photos of some of the reptiles and amphibians living there, like this one and that one.
Flexible rubber lens hood resting very tightly on the aquarium front window to gain stability (shooting without the flash at a slow shutter speed; I wanted to keep the ISO as low as possible).
ISO 200
Focal length: 54 mm
Captured in RAW format

Post-processing (Photoshop Elements 3):
At the file opening from RAW:
Adjustment to colder color temperatures
After file opening:
Cropping
Levels adjustment
Highlights/shadows adjustment
Unsharp mask
Built-in white frame/border (not a separate layer)
Text layer
Use of the built-in Reduce Noise filter
Conversion to JPEG at TN size

Subject:
The Map Turtle (Graptemys geographica) is named after the pattern on its shell that reminds of contour lines on topographic maps. The male is much smaller than the female, its shell being no longer than 7 inches, whereas the shell of the female can be up to 11 inches long.

In summer, this species can travel up to 6 km (4 miles) in one day, and a lot more in spring and fall. At Lake Champlain, in Southern Quebec (Canada), Map Turtles have been observed making trips over 15 km (9 miles) long between their winter quarters and their summer habitat.

The diet of this turtle is made up mostly of aquatic molluscs, in particular snails, but also of crayfish, insects and sometimes worms, fish and plants.

Adults are sometimes the prey of the River Otter, the Racoon and other mammals as well as large fish and herons. Eggs are in great risk of predation by the Striped Skunk.

The Map Turtle has been designated a rare species in Quebec.

Source: Desroches, J.-F., and D. Rodrigue, Amphibiens et reptiles du Québec et des Maritimes, Éditions Michel Quintin, 2004. [I did the translation from French.]

I hope you find some interest in this posting. Please do not hesitate to critic, as I’m low on my learning curve!
scottevers7, Luc, Ninfa, Janice, coasties, liquidsunshine, willie, marhowie, dew77, sandpiper2, Fisher, carper, Callie, Signal-Womb, Nella has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To Callie: Thanks, Calliesergegagne 1 02-12 15:13
To Fisher: Great workshop, Mike!sergegagne 1 02-11 12:48
To sandpiper2: Hi Chrissergegagne 1 02-11 09:29
To Luc: Encore une fois merci, Lucsergegagne 1 02-10 09:12
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Critiques [Translate]

Serge, I like this portrait of the turtle alot. The pose is great with the captued reflection in the water. Great color and detail. Very Nice Work!

  • Great 
  • azulu Gold Star Critiquer [C: 111 W: 0 N: 75] (374)
  • [2005-02-09 21:33]

Very nice shot Serge. Nice composition with good colors and sharpness. Nice note. Good job.

Congratulations

Alexandre

  • Great 
  • Ninfa Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 116 W: 3 N: 204] (710)
  • [2005-02-09 21:52]

Hola Serge: Hermosos detalles de la cabeza emergente de la tortuga, la reflexión logra en la composición una atmósfera que destaca elegantemente los sentidos de vida de este bello reptil: ver y respirar. Muy bien por la organización y detalles de la nota. Saludos Cordiales.*Ninfa Urania*

  • Great 
  • Janice Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3417 W: 144 N: 5803] (17209)
  • [2005-02-09 23:17]

Excellente (as Luc says). Such an interesting shot with the little fellow's nose just out of the water. Great colours and background. Good reflection, I'm only sorry you didn't get his completer reflection, but otherwise very, very good. TFS

Very good Serge.
I like this one.
Great composition, colours, details and reflections.
Maybe some noise in the BG.
Very well done.

Wow! This a stunning piece of work. Great POV. The reflection is awesome. Keep up the good work!

He needs a periscope. Great capture of the moment Serge. very nice image . The reflection is great. Well done

  • Good 
  • olger Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 65 W: 0 N: 138] (744)
  • [2005-02-10 4:08]

This is a great picture.. Very nice creative perspective! Only a bit of a shame that the dept of field is a bit low, i guess you cropped quite a bit. But never the less a very nice image!

J'adore ta photo! C'est superbe! Il n'y a rien a ajoute :-)

Serge, This has great visual impact. Good details with a "cool" POV! A small amount of noise in BG is the only nit..Very good note, Well done!

  • Great 
  • jossim Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 1676 W: 5 N: 2144] (11868)
  • [2005-02-10 9:04]

Bon résultat et félicitation. Lanprise est très original. Merci pour l'envoi.

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5171 W: 297 N: 4050] (13069)
  • [2005-02-10 9:20]

Perfect shot!Great moment to catch the reflection so beautiful.But I you could have a little bit sharpen it like Luc's.
TFS

  • Great 
  • livios Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2306 W: 324 N: 4306] (16850)
  • [2005-02-10 10:00]

Serge, this photo has a great point of view. Great shades, pose and reflection. The animal is beautiful; besides, I know that as time goes by you'll do great things on post-processings.

Regards.

Lívio

Critique:
Appréciation personnelle de la photo: excellente
Immense impact visuel.
Pertinence de la photo pour le site: excellente
Appréciation personnelle pour la note: super complète & bilingue
Commentaire:
Serge, c'est inoui le progrès que tu as fait en si peu de temps. Je crois que tes cours chez Loseau portent fruits. Tu aurais pu forcer légèrement l'accentuation et la saturation pour cette photo.
Dommage qu'il ne manque que quelques milimètres à la réflection.
Ta tortue géographique va faire le tour du monde!
J'ai 'osé' un WS.

Great portrait Serge,
Excellent clean sharp details. and a great reflection.
I like the detail of the eye.
Thanks for posting

Great shot, good composition and POV. Where did you take it?? In the wild or a zoo?

It's a great capture, Serge. Lovely compo. Such a nice BG. It has a great impact. Well done.

O.k., I see why you used the levels adjustment etc. The speed and fstop is not a match. In dark places the aperature needs to be openned up to allow as much light in as possible. your setting caused graining in the image which you fixed. Just a friendly tech note. :)
Well composed and framed. Excelent details of the road map, hey, there's manitoulin island.!!!
I did a workshop, contrasts.

Mike

  • Great 
  • carper Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2167 W: 124 N: 2567] (8208)
  • [2005-02-11 14:20]

I saw it before and I like it very much,
the shot is done exelent, the head just out of the water and then click, you must capture it on the right moment, perfect in pof with exelent colours and a fantastic dof, great job

Really nice, Serge, a very artistic pose of the turtle, nice done !

Hi Serge
Considering how and where you took this, this is superbe, the eye especially is lovely.
If I may, but only because you ask, some pointers, to really make this one rock.

The reflection should include the tip of the nose. At this level of detail and excellence, this is a big no no.
Crop off just on left of the white dot on the right, where the neck enters the water, and see how the new framing enhances the image. You actually need some space in front of the nose, so that the eye is more on a third than central. However, croping as suggested will move the eye to the third.
Also, that white dot draws the eye like honey a badger, clone it out anyway.
Hope you don't mind.

Incrivel, depende de como se olha na foto ve-se uma montanha ou mesmo uma arraia..
Parabéns

Lovely shot Serge with nice detail and a great background. The reflection here is the bonus its maybe cropped alittle to tight...still I think its a cracking shot...well done.

  • Great 
  • sAner Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1654 W: 79 N: 1456] (4742)
  • [2005-02-16 14:15]

Great portrait! The pose is great as is the reflection. Too bad the reflection is cut off at some point. Great POV and DOF. TFS

  • Great 
  • vero Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 59 W: 11 N: 16] (336)
  • [2005-03-11 18:48]

Cette symétrie est parfaite. Je ne fais que confirmer tous ces commentaires. Ta photo est d'une grande qualité!

  • Great 
  • optic Gold Star Critiquer [C: 322 W: 0 N: 0] (0)
  • [2005-03-14 7:25]

Bonjour Serge, félicitation pour cette belle composition le cadrage est parfait il n'est guère facile de photographier au travers d'une vitre. Vous auriez pu augmenter l'iso à 800 pour obtenir une ouverture et une vitesse plus élevée la lumière devait être difficile ??

j'aime bien les retouches de Luc sur votre image,
Cette tortue géographique possède de belles lignes géométriques qui la feront voyager plus vite que le lièvre :-)

Bien vu,

Christian

  • Great 
  • es841 (26)
  • [2005-03-15 7:28]

Excellente photo à tout point de vue! les couleurs, la netteté et la précision, l'effet de symétrie grace au reflet sur l'eau (on dirait que la tortue à la gueule grande ouverte), le cadrage. Un grande réussite!
Bravo!
Luc.

  • Great 
  • Nella (30)
  • [2005-03-20 17:06]

This is really great image. The shapes and colour are what makes it work. I admire your dedication to write such an informative notes. It's great learning from you!

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