Blue-spotted Salamander

[Steve Maxson]

This Blue-spotted Salamander (Ambystoma laterale) was photographed in a lightbox "studio." 7D, 100 mm macro, 1/250, f/16, ISO 100, 2 remotely-fired flashes, hand held. All comments are welcome and appreciated.


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[Bobo Madar]

Great shot. I like it quite a lot.

Have you considered stacking to get him all sharp ?

[Steve Maxson]

Great shot. I like it quite a lot.

Have you considered stacking to get him all sharp ?

Hi Bobo. Stacking would be a good option if the salamander remained motionless during the entire sequence of shots. Unfortunately, this guy was a little too frisky for that. :S3:

[Marina Scarr]

You have done some very good flash work here, Steve. Your subject's head is nice and sharp and the position of its feet work very nicely. Did you try any of these from a lower angle and if not, I am curious as to your reasoning? I do like this angle quite a bit, so just curious.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very well illuminated/exposed and I like the pose. The head is pinsharp an I like the slightly off centre glance, had you gone round to the left to get a more head on view you would have not got such a well balance image becasue the front left leg would have been OOF. I strongly suspect you took a number of images with differing poses and this one provided the best compromise and I think it works well. The aperture was well chosen, I like the disappearing tail, it strikes me as a well thought out image.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments, folks.

Marina: If I have a cooperative subject, I usually try to photograph it from a variety of angles and in a variety of poses. I don't remember the specifics of this particular image, but to get this viewpoint, the lens barrel may have been resting on the table top upon which my lightbox was set up. To go lower would require a bit more advance planning - doable, but something I didn't think of at the time. :S3:

[bhavya joshi]

Beautiful image..TFS.

Hey Steve.. any Site for Macro Staking for More Learning Materials??? can you share it??

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Joshi. Zerene Stacker has some tutorials on their web site ( http://www.zerenesystems.com/stacker/ ) that may be helpful to you. I found this program rather easy to use.
Beautiful image..TFS.

Hey Steve.. any Site for Macro Staking for More Learning Materials??? can you share it??

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Steve,
You know I rarely like shallow DOF......but in this case I like it a lot! Excellent colors and the sharpness is dead on. The pose he gave you works and the curve with the falloff.....drags my eye back to the face where it needs it. Super flash work too. Only recommendation....thin border around as on BP light.....blens in a bit to much with the BG.
Great job!

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments Roman. Oops! I forgot to put a border around this one. I'm using the dark background and I didn't notice the problem - good point!
Only recommendation....thin border around as on BP light.....blens in a bit to much with the BG.
Great job!