I took this picture of a caiman -- the South American alligator -- during my last trip to the Pantanal in Brazil. This was taken from a moving boat, and I wanted this kind of straight-on shot looking down the reptile's throat. In addition, depth of field was really important because I used a 500mm telephoto with its inherently shallow DOF. I felt the entire mouth and head needed to be sharp. So, I used 1/1000th of a second to freeze the movement of the boat, and f/11 for a moderate amount of depth of field. My ISO was 800, and I hand held the big lens. I never use a tripod or monopod in a boat simply because I find them to be too inhibiting, especially as photo opportunities change so quickly. 70% of a jaguar's diet in this area are caiman.
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