Chamaeleon Luck

Gallery: WildlifePosted April 24, 2011176 views10 comments

We were zooming towards an ancient temple near Bangalore for photography, when I observed something green moving at the edge of the road. Instantly my subconscious shouted that it had to be a chamaeleon. I yelled at the top of my voice asking my wife to stop the car, which she did immediately out of shock.The moment the car stopped, I ran out like a maniac, took out my camera and laid flat on my face to observe this chap.

This is the first and only time I have seen this amazing creature. In the fifteen minutes that we observed it, it changed its colours from dark green and blacks (as seen here) to pale green and finally pale green with shades of brown.

As luck would have it, this is the very first image that I have of my latest Sigma 150 macro lens that I got yesterday.
What a start!

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Kurt Bowman on April 24, 2011 at 12:28 PM

Very nice detail and love the low ground perspective on this shot. Colors and exposure look excellent as well. No nits from me.

Registered on June 19, 2008, 1005 Posts, 8028 Comments

Comment posted by Anand Narayanan on April 24, 2011 at 2:25 PM

Never seen one in the wild

The details look great and he pops out the background nicely

Registered on October 25, 2009, 110 Posts, 835 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Nichols on April 24, 2011 at 3:05 PM

Terrific image Keshav. You obviously had the perfect lens and camera settings to get such a nice photo. The colors in the chamaeleon stand out very nicely against the background and your DOF is right on.

Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on April 24, 2011 at 3:31 PM

Very nice image. The dof and comp work well. The chamaeleon stands out really well from the background. It looks like he is on his tip toes.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Sharp on April 24, 2011 at 8:06 PM

Really nice! You did a fine job getting him fulling within the plane of focus. I like the rich colors and good rendering of detail. The tail curled forward like that provides some assistance in making a balanced composition, too. I am particularly interested in the detail of toenails, scales and those interesting tooth-like spines from jawline to belly. The only tweak I can see that you might experiment with is to perhaps crop a little more from the bottom (perhaps half of the oof foreground) which would make a more pano presentation and would "ground" him even lower in the frame, emphasizing how well you achieved that low perspective.

Registered on December 9, 2007, 258 Posts, 9892 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Canuel on April 25, 2011 at 12:42 AM

Super detail and very nice color in the lizard. I like how the angle of the road narrows down into the direction he's heading.

Registered on September 12, 2010, 53 Posts, 660 Comments

Comment posted by Ashley Vincent on April 25, 2011 at 10:54 AM

Only time I ever saw a Chamaeleon in the wild was years ago when I was in the army, though unfortunately I had a automatic rifle in my hands at the time instead of a camera, but I still carry with me a wonderfully vivid mental snapshot of that beautiful little creature ;^)

This is a great image Keshav and I applaud your lighting reflexes, not only in seeing it at the edge of the road, but in having the presence of mind to get as low down as you could to nail the shot, very well done and enjoyed reading the storyline very much too; helped me to imagine being there with you :^)

Registered on March 1, 2011, 154 Posts, 2083 Comments

Comment posted by Keshav Kumar on April 25, 2011 at 11:55 AM

Thank you very much to every one of you for such great feedback.

@Lon: I tried what you suggested, and yes, it certainly makes a lot of difference. Thanks for the suggestion.

Here is what I tried.

Registered on June 3, 2008, 16 Posts, 42 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on April 25, 2011 at 12:44 PM

Beautiful specimen Keshav! The repost sure is an improvement. IMO you could go even more pno though by cropping some off the top. A bit more room behind would also help this.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Jagdeep Rajput on April 25, 2011 at 1:02 PM

My vote for the repost ! Techs n colors are great, I wish you could get lower POV.
Jagdeep Rajput

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