Lava Lizard

[Rachel Hollander]

Taken in the Galapagos. Had to be careful not to step on these guys on some of the paths but they were also quite photogenic.

Canon 50D
100-400 @ 400mm
1/800
f10
ISO 400
Handheld, cropped from some from left, top and right, USM applied selectively to lizard and also darkened the bg slightly.

C&C welcome and appreciated. Thanks,

Rachel

[Harshad Barve]

Pops up nicely against BG here , I may go for toning down perch /rock , excellent image overall
TFS

[Hilary Hann]

Rachel, I really like the way you have positioned the lizard in the frame and the mottled background. The lizard's pose is alert and interested. I would love to have seen a small highlight in the eye just to lift it a bit more. Good detail in the lizard and the rock, very nicely done.

[DanWalters]

Nice bacground and great detail in the lizard. The light really brings out the colors in the skin.

[Ken Watkins]

Really nice detail, I am not overlly experienced with Lizzards but would imagine that a catchlight is a relative rarity, given there deep set eyes.

[Hilary Hann]

Ken, I'm sure you're right about the catch light, but given the nice angle of the light it just feels as if it may have been possible, and if so it would have been a nice added touch. Ah well .......

[Steve Kaluski]

Really like this Rachel. Good placement in the frame, great colour/detail and the pose is spot on, just perched nicely, surveying the territory :)

I think there is a little bit more detail you can get out of some of the shadow areas if you wanted to, plus would also try to reduce the darker patch & whitish hot spot in the BG. However, overall this is a very nice image Rachel, congrats.

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Thanks for all the kind comments. Hilary - I'm not sure I've ever seen a lizard photo with a catchlight. I'm also not keen on adding catchlights in PP.

Thanks again,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

Love the pose and comp here Rachel.
I think this is a case where a luminosity mask can really help here by toning down that rock and extracting some extra detail in the lizard.
Hope that's ok with you on this repost.

[Rachel Hollander]

Looks good Marc. Did you also blur the bg?

Thanks,
Rachel

[Marc Mol]

Thanks Rachel

The BG was not blurred in any way.