Blender

[Peter Coskun]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/4488042993_3d892f923a_o.jpg

I'm no expert on reptiles and I should probably know the name of this guy, but I can not figure it out. Anyways, I almost stepped on this little guy (or girl) as it was on the trail and completely blending in with the dirt and gravel. The only sign it was there was the quick movement I noticed on the floor below. The lizard stopped and kindly allowed me to photograph a few poses and gave me some interesting looks as well. There were others walking and jogging the trail wondering what I was doing sitting in the dirt with a camera and big white lens. Well, there's a photographer for you! If you know what type of lizard this is I would greatly appreciate the info. Let me know what you think!

Canon eos 7d
canon 400mm f/5.6L @f/7.1
1/800th of a sec
iso 400
+2/3 EV
fill flash from canon 420EX

[Alfred Forns]

Hi Peter Getting low is about the only way to capture these little guys, would only crop a little top and bottom since you don't need that much of the oof areas !!! btw when getting low you can stop down more for dof sicne the bg will not come into play !!! Like it a lot !!!

[Ken Watkins]

Whatever it is it is a lovely looking lizzard, great colours and sharpness. I agree with Al that a little crop top and bottom would strengthen this image.

[Steve Kaluski]

Echo the comments above Peter.

Like you, I really like the golden colours and how the Lizard blends into it's surrounding habitat. Would suggest revisiting in Levels and adding a bit more into it, 10, 90, 255 as it makes the image more defined to me and 'pops'. Can I ask, what are the two OOF 'rocks to the left, is this an area that had been cloned, as the nearest one looks a little odd, not being sharp? Just curious.

Hope to see more.:)

TFS
Steve

[Harshad Barve]

Nice image and excellent advise by Al here
TFS

[Robert Amoruso]

Peter,

I agree with the crop suggests but also looked at reducing the contrast and regaining some details.

In the repost I did a highlights selection using the Channels Pallet (see my tutorial here on this www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=161168). On a BG copy I created a layer mask which takes the selection and creates a grayscale mask. I then reduced opacity to 50% with a blending mode of Multiply (my tutorial here on Blending Modes www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434).