Lizard Series – Part II
by Ashley Vincent
Canon EOS 40D, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, Manual @ f/5.6 (1/125 sec), 0 EV, ISO 400, Handheld, Cropped About 50% from Full Frame
Subject: Garden Fence Lizard
Location: Bangkok, Thailand
Situation: Once again, lying on the ground in a park.
Here's another shot I took back in 2008 when I really didn't have much idea of how to use manual controls on a DSLR, but somehow was lucky enough to capture some shots that came out pleasing to my eye.
Garden Fence Lizards are very common here in Thailand, and I've taken more than a few photos of them, however, this was the first (and so far only) time I got to see one change it's colour from it's more usual green to such a vivid hue of orange, almost certainly in an attempt to blend in with the colour it perceived the wooden bridge to be that I found it on.
As many Lizards seem to do, having definitely been aware of my presence, this one froze in motion, I'd guess partly in an attempt to not draw attention to itself (if I hadn't already have noticed it) as well as to focus it's full attention on me, so it would be able to zip away in a flash if it felt I was entering too close into it's comfort zone.
Keeping just far enough back, I was able to fire off a number of shots from different angles, of which I kept three of the best and was hard put making the decision as to which one I'd show you. This won due to the fact you can see more of it's face in profile than the other two.
Thoughts and suggestions are always welcome, thanks for your time :^)
Comments
10 commentsI wish it had chosen a natural background to freeze - the gap between the planks is recognizable as a human element even in the thumbnail. I guess fences and bridges are to lizards what light posts are to birds of prey: the favorite place to stand when a photographer is in sight
Generally speaking, I don't keep images I've taken that include manmade elements or at least ones in which they cannot be removed from the shot one way of the other. However, I chose to keep this one in my collection not only for the way the subject came out but, strangely enough, I find the lines, texture and colour of the wooden bridge add a lot to the visual appeal of the picture as a whole.
Another reason why I like the wood so much is it reminds me that the Lizard changed it's colour to try and blend in, although apparently orange was the closest it could get, and I'd hazard a guess in saying that chances are seeing these Lizards displaying this marvelous hue of orange is a rare occurrence, as more often than not one would expect to only see them situated in surroundings of green, brown, and tones of gray.
A splash of range set against a vivid green backdrop would indeed be a beautiful thing to see, but I'm happy to settle for this :^)
Beautiful colour, including that near pink deck (works well for me) - and that facial region looks VERY sharp in the larger version - well done.
Because compositional comments have already been made, I'll raise one technical issue that sticks out for me: on my monitor there is a pronounced halo running the entire distance along the "front" of the lizard (from the nose tip down to where the front left leg disappears down the crack). This definitely looks to me like an artifact of processing (possibly from sharpening, but I can think of a few other adjustments that can have this effect). I raise this simply because it's something that you can likely adjust and "fix" (i.e., has nothing to do with your original capture, unless you captured this as a JPEG with your camera settings biased toward over-sharpening).
Cheers...thanks for sharing this...looking forward to more lizards!
Brad
Brad: Didn't notice the halo you mentioned before, so thanks for pointing it out. No doubt this was indeed caused during post processing. Also, forgot to add this in my shooting data, but this is indeed a JPEG from the original RAW.