Newt larvae

[John Robinson]

Great Crested newt larvae.
(Photographed under Licence)
These often over winter as larvae. Done in a complicated tank set up designed for freshwater stuff. They are the only newt larvae with spots - so quite easy to ID.
Great Crested larvae for some reason are quite hard to move around - unlike the other two species we have in the UK
Nikon D7100
Nikor macro 40mm.
Printed backdrop.
Artificial light from above./ fill flash
70% of full frame.
PP in PSP7/image guru.
Cheers
JohnR

[Nancy Bell]

Fascinating. Wonderful pose with the fringed gills (?) so obvious. Good lighting with the eye bright and the newt looking golden. A bit tight on the left side behind the tip of the tail and maybe too much empty space on right. I imagine there are many obstacles to overcome when photographing through glass and into a tank of water.

[John Robinson]

Thanks nancy Yes its a case of trying to get the head just left of centre so looking "out of the frame " It would hasve to be a canvas adding job !
Cheers
John

[Mitch Haimov]

VWD, John. Nicely lit, interesting subject, sweet BG. I would like a little more negative space on the left and for your subject not to be vertically centered.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi John. Another interesting subject, well exposed, and with very good head-to-tail sharpness! Here's another vote for adding a little canvas on the left to improve the comp. The backdrop again looks natural - but here comes the picky part. :S3: Just below the tail in the yellow there is a relatively distinct diagonal "something." This could easily be blended into the background. Just above and to the right of the head and also above the tail are some just-visible concentric lines - vaguely resembling fingerprints. I think these could easily be removed with a little low-opacity clone work or perhaps use of the patch tool. These are minor tweaks that would help put this fine image over the top!

[John Robinson]

Hi Steve
Played around a bit. I remembered I spent hours on the original trying to remove that scurge of aqatic tank photography- biti in the water and on the glass.!!!
So I,ve worked this on the one I posted. Added canvas but then had to reduce it to 1200 pix.
See what you think.
John

[Steve Maxson]

The repost is much better! :S3:

[Mitch Haimov]

Another vote for the repost.