Who goes there

[vishaljadhav]

This is a Fan throated lizard, males display from various vantage rocks and twigs
I wanted to test out the new 500mm so chose this as my subject

Canon 5 D MIII + Canon 500 L IS II f4
1/640 , f5 , ISO 125
could have tried f8 or f11 but wanted to test it widest possible

i could have gone closer or composed it vertical but i was impressed with the bg i was getting from ground level , let me know your thoughts
Critiques and suggestions are welcome helps me learn
cheers
vishal

[Don Railton]

Hi Vishaljadhav

Its a beautiful BG but I think you do have too much of it for me... I think you need BG to promote the subject, not to compete with the subject... My two cents worth anyway. I would go with the vertical crop you were thinking of. Its a very colourful lizard in a nice pose, sharp, well done...

regards

DON

[Steve Canuel]

Vishal,
This is a great shot and one of the best lizard photos I've ever seen. I like it as posted but it would work well as a vertical too. Well done.

[Andrew Robinson]

Fantastic image Vishaljadhav! Maybe take a small amount from the RHS but hey, a great image.

Andrew

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Vishal love everything in this image , great colors , BKG ,contrast , tonal density ……. great work .And would work in variations of different crops, too.
I just one little suggestion , i would try to bring a bit of life in that eye, i feel it is there just need a little bit of extraction.

I really like this a lot .
TFS Andreas

[Loi Nguyen]

Hi Vishal, lovely subject and colors. Great detail and sharpness. Have no idea how small this lizard is or how close were you. If you were at the limit already, I'd suggest putting on a 1.4x or a 2x to get a more close up shot. TFS. Loi


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[Marc Mol]

Agree on the crop suggestions and could work both ways, I love the threat stance & display, great colour, detail & BG Vishal.

[Nancy Bell]

Incredible colors and details! Critters like this make me really appreciate the amazing & intricate beauty of nature.

If my subject allows it while I am out in the field, I will try various framing at that point; such as closer and further, horizontal and vertical. Then back at the computer I can spend more time deciding which presentation I like best. This bkgd is beautiful and I like this presentation very much. But other arrangements might also be very good.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Vishal - Looks good. Colors seem vibrant but am on travel netbook so will leave it generally to others. I tend to like a lot of negative space but do think this is a bit too much. Another alternative would be to go portrait. I too would experiment with dof if I had a cooperative subject (and the presence of mind to do so).

TFS,
Rachel

[vishaljadhav]

Hi All,
Thanks for the feedback , on composition in other places i do have closeups of this lizard
the reason for choosing this perspective is make it unique to my eye, this guy stands around 4 inches + in the standing position, would have surely allowed me closer but i choose to go wide
Managed to make other compsoitions when it gave some displays on a twig
for the eye, when the guy displays it lowers the eye lid which renders the eye dark most of the times, will surly try and experiment with trying specific recovery of it, may be next time try a fill flash to have some life there,
Thanks again for the wonderful feedback , surely helps me

[Gabriela Plesea]

Hello Vishal,

This is indeed a stunning image with vibrant colours and I just love the pose from your subject, what a display from this little macho guy, fantastic capture!

A lot of comments above on the crop, my humble suggestion is to take a tad from the left and leave him standing on a single rock. Unfortunately that leads to taking a bit of the right hand side as well, but I kept your proportions as much as I could, since I liked that space, what do you think?

Kind regards,

[vishaljadhav]

Gabriela,

I liked the treatment in terms of the crop you have chosen really works well
After seeing your crop i noticed that the second piece of the rock could have been avoided by me in the first instance.
best regards
vishal

[Gabriela Plesea]

Glad you like it, Vishal!

...Cannot help but revisit at this image from time to time, I also showed it to other people, everyone loved it, well done

Kind regards,

[Rudi van den Heever]

Very striking image Vishaljadhav! The colors are awesome and the space you gave the subject against that stunning BG works great!