Mountain Boomer - One of My Favorite Critters

[Richard Smith]

This is the male Mountain Boomer in full mating regalia. I know, it's real name is "Collared Lizard" but such a colorful fellow deserves a more colorful name. In Oklahoma he is the official State Reptile and we call him a "Mountain Boomer".

Canon 50D. Canon EF 28-135 @ 135mm. 1/320 @ f5.6. ISO 100.

[Mike Poole]

I like the lighting on the head, pity about how the shadows have fallen. What is the light patch just in front of the rear legs?

Mike

[Richard Smith]

I like the lighting on the head, pity about how the shadows have fallen. What is the light patch just in front of the rear legs?

Mike

Probably some out of focus substance very near the lens. I was pretty close and very low to the ground. DOF is very shallow. MIght be a good idea to re-visit PP and clean it up. Thanks for your comments.

[haseeb badar]

Hi Richard -- Lovely little character , beautiful colours ! Not sure on the compostion though , i find it a bit tight at the bottom , and also that clipped tail is not a pleasing sight . Also looks a bit soft to me , a round of sharpening might be helpful .

Personal opinion but i think that copyright is a bit distracting element here , could have been smaller with some more opacity .

TFS !

[Richard Smith]

There is an extremely OOF twig in the foreground that is mostly cropped. You can see a bit of it over the little fellow's leg. Focus is, unfortunately, on the front of his head rather than his eye and DOF is quite shallow because of how close I was (they're not very big). I have technically better shots of them but this one is the best looking one overall. Here's a slightly wider crop that will show more foreground and as much of the tail as I have.