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Morkel Erasmus
08-18-2010, 03:57 AM
Hey everyone...

Haven't posted here in a while, and since I don't own a macro lens yet I won't venture here too often except to marvel at some of the wonderful little details you all post here.

This blue skink was photographed chilling on a rock in overcast weather outside our living quarters on a trip to the Sabi Sands earlier this year.

Techs:
Nikon D300s with Nikkor 200-400mm VR @ 400mm
f4.0 @ 1/200 SS @ ISO-400

Roman Kurywczak
08-18-2010, 09:56 AM
Hey Morkel,
The love those ledges don't they?!!! I like how the sharpness goes from tack on the face and gradually falls off to the tail. I would probably go even more pano......cropping from the bottom 1/2 way or even 2/3's up the oof area....just above the whitish area in there.......this puts the lizard lower in the frame and starts the eye contact immediately. The greenery on the right is a bit bothersome.....mostly the leaf and the OOF lighter grass? near the tail.......worth working on if so inclined but not to distracting enough to take away from this well composed image! You will see that Ken is doing many macros with his 100-400.....so I envision a set of tubes in your future!........ to keep the wife happy.....just go for the 20mm if you had to choose just one!

Ken Childs
08-18-2010, 11:30 AM
Morkel, this is really well done! The OOF area in the front doesn't bother me but Roman's suggestion of a pano crop sounds like a good one. The green area is a little distracting but I bet that some added blur and toning down the green would take care of that.

Steve Maxson
08-18-2010, 12:50 PM
Hmmm, I wonder why this is called a blue skink? :) Looks like you nailed the focus, Morkel, and I like the low shooting angle. I also like Roman's suggestion about a crop from the bottom to put even more emphasis on the skink. The almost-in-focus leaf in the URC draws my eye and could easily be blurred to lessen its impact. Also, you might tone down some of the lighter spots in the background. Well done.

Jonathan Ashton
08-18-2010, 04:06 PM
Lovely shot great detail in the skink, I agree a crop and reduce the saturation of the greens would help.

Morkel Erasmus
09-20-2010, 12:41 AM
thanks so much for the comments guys! Roman I'm not sure how tubes work? One genre of photography gear that I know very little about :)