One of the neat things about photographing in rainforest is how "alive" it is. While photographing a boat-billed heron, I noticed this basilisk watching me from a nearby palm leaf. These are the lizards that can walk (run actually) on water which is a common sight while hiking near creeks.
Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D
Date/Time: 2008:03:24 04:467
Shutter speed: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 5.6
Exposure mode: Av
Exposure compensation: -2/3
Flash: External E-TTL
Metering mode: Evaluative
Drive mode: Continuous: frame 1
ISO: 640
Lens: EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Focal length: 400mm
AF mode: AI Servo AF
Image size: 4368 x 2912
Image quality: Raw
White balance: Auto
I love this. Great color and detail on the basilisk. That eye is incredible. I've seen video of these as well as some classic photos of the lizard running on water. A fascinating species.
Very nice. Based on your settings, it looks like flash was pretty much required in these circumstances.
It certainly encourages me to get out and learn how to use mine.
I am no expert with flash but there are many practical applications for it in wildlife photography, especially when shooting in forest. As you can see in my techs, I underexposed the ambient exposure by dialing in -2/3 EC (this created the darker background) and used flash as main light (ETTL at 0 or no flash exposure compenasation) to illumintate the lizard.