Alien

[John Robinson]

Palmate Newt in suspended animation mode.
For interest really. I put various weed in large tanks, photographed them and am trying them as back drops. This was a test. I can get A3 prints for about £1 I use small home made tanks about 10 inches wide and high and about two inches back to front. I have various sizes and some are made using rubber tube for the small stuff. Whilst trying this out last night my little fried here hung in the water watching me. Quite nice I thought. I shall call him NPET ! Newts can hang in the water by adjusting the amount of air they take in or expel
D7000
Sigma 18-50mm
No1 close up
ISO 200 f18
flash off camera.
Levels etc paint shop pro
70% of full frame.
Cheers

[Mitch Haimov]

Very interesting subject, John. BG works quite well (tho I could live without the hot spot just left of center on top edge). I like the eye contact. I'm curious about the colors on the belly and rear feet--are they right? Appear off to me, but I'm not familiar with this species so don't know what it "should" look like. Colors in face and front legs appear more natural to me. Is that white patch actually on the left rear foot (our right), or is it some sort of artifact or flash glare?

[John Robinson]

Hi Mitch
Agree about the white area top left.
Regards the other colours. - No idea ! Not a PP man myself - just how it came out. Maybe because the back legs are in more shadow. No idea.
Cheers
John

[shane shacaluga]

I really like this one. As you say, very alien looking. The green tone on this image works very well

Thanks for sharing

[Randy Stout]

John:

Eye catching, thought provoking, fun. My first impression was of an alien rock and roll singer getting ready to belt it out. I think its the crest that looks like a weird hairdo.

Yes, I would follow Mitch's thoughts about the bright spots.

Made me smile.

Cheers

Randy

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very unusual, the image has a peculiar feel to it, the front quarters and head look as I would have expected but the rear quarters appear different, almost like a cut out, the edges are not as soft as I might have expected?? It would have guessed DOF was minimal??

[Nancy Bell]

Love the position/stance of this little guy! Astonished at what he sees?! The light through the water & that turquoise color adds a surreal feeling to this and your title "alien" is perfect. I would consider just cropping away that top lighter part. I think that gives this guy more emphasis. Never thought I would find a newt so cute!

[John Robinson]

Yes Nancy A newt so cute is a cute newt !!! We became quite good friends whilst I had him beside me. I am sure he watched the TV !!
John

[Steve Maxson]

Hi John. This is a very cool critter giving you an outstanding pose! Good comments above - with which I concur. Your background looks totally natural. Like Jon, I'm astonished by your DOF - there appears to be no dropoff in sharpness at all. This is an excellent image and a couple minor tweaks will make it even better!

[John Robinson]

Thanks all
Steve
Its maybe the system I use which started me doing the same with birds. I think many people make the mistake of getting the subject too big in the frame. With birds I stated to rack out wider and found there was a slight drop in IQ but worth it for the DOF increase. ( And lack of shake !!!)
With my aquatic stuff I started to use a wide angle(18-50 ) or standard.- and kept the subject quite small. As I got cameras with more pixels the quality was better obviously. The back drop is often quite a way back from the tank too .
Cheers
John

[Vida van der Walt]

Wow, your images are amazing John! There is so much to love about this one, the pose, beautiful colours and stunning bg.