Young Lizard

Commom Lizard(Juv)
One thing about the terrible weather is that when is does brighten up a bit things seem to appear from no where.
This little chap turned up on a log pile near the house. No bigger than 4 cms. Cant be very old. Why do some things have their young so late ?
No photographic masterpiece but I love the way he's looking at me !
D200 Sigma 150 macro.
400 ISO
160th at f11
Cheers
JohnR

Very nice image i would take a bit of the right as i find the lighter patch a bit distracting.
Rene de Heer

Thanks Rene
The reason I didn't crop as you suggest was that there was not enough image to get the head central. All I could do was stretch the canvas like I have done in this one and I don't like it.
Its not as the picture was in real life,, even if only I know it !
Cheers
John

Good job finding any sort of wildlife with this weather we've been having. Only thing likely to be seen down here on the south coast is ducks and fish.
A good clear image but I'd agree with Rene's sugestion about loosing the light area in the corner.
I prefer the re-post but don't follow why you prefered to stretch the canvas rather than just crop a bit off the side. Why does the head need to be central? Or am I missing the obvious?

The first version works good for me.
The eye contact and the catchlight are absolutely magnetic.

Bertl

Justin
You are not missing anything at all .
I have always worked on the idea as I was taught as a lad,to try and get the head , be it animal,bird or whatever, looking into the picture or as near as damnit. Even the repost is too far to the right for me. It is obviously much more noticeable on flight shots. I don't think many would put a bird in flight going right, in the right hand side of the shot would they ?
Its just a matter of personal prefs. Its not too bad with this shot because the eye is actually looking slightly backward which helps the situation. If you crop the original as suggested you can see the difference in my opinion.
Thanks for your interest. (It was after all more of a record shot I suppose. )
Cheers
John

Thanks for explaining John and I see where you're coming from.
I must say I think I'd still prefer a slightly cropped version, with the frame cropped right up close to the edge of the bright wood, so it's close enough to exclude it completely but still leaving maximum space for the lizard to move into.
I know this would leave the lizard's head in the right hand side of the frame which you're trying to avoid, but personally I think it would still work very well, because there would still be more space in front of, than behind the lizard, therefore still giving the impression of having ample space for the creature to move into IMHO.
At least that's my take on things for what it's worth. It'd be a boring old world if we all agreed on everything anyway

Nice shot, I like the way he's looking at you. I don't think you need to crop the light wood off really, just a smidge to get rid of the out of focus bit at the edge, grass I think? Then just darken the light bit down, that way you haven't cropped too much to change the position of the lizard, and the light bit won't draw the eye so much.

I like this shot even if it is just for record, the texture of the wood really compliments the lizard, which is in a really nice pose, and has really nice colour.

Wish I had lizards in my garden...

Thanks both.
yes its one of those "iffy " ones where either choice would be OK. As you say Justin -
it would be a boring old lot if ...
The more I look at this I realise that with the eye looking back to the left then the lizard wouldn't be too bad farther to the right.
Dawn
I'll post you some !!

Cheers
John

I tend to agree with Justin, that even with the light patch cropped there may still (just about) be enough space for the lizard to be looking into. I still like the original though so not a major problem either way.

Yet another great find in your patch John, you should charge admission

Matt

Super eye contact well captured John. Do like the subject.

Major.