Only some of the kids - C&C Please

[CoolMoon]

These are just some of our kids past and present, I chose these as they have not been crop just resized. looking for any C&C but any advice on composing or shooting reptiles needed.

thanks

Dave


This is Rub she is a 2 1/2 yr old Female iguana

1.



This is Tholus and about 9 weeks a Male Panther chameleon, and yes thats the pinky finger

2.



And this is Tholus 4 moths latter

3.


4.



This is Tiss a Veiled Chameleon @ a little over a year old

5.


6.


And Last but not least Valha a Female Panther chameleon @ a year old

7.




Thanks for looking

Dave

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[tirediron]

Neat series of images, and huge potential here. Technically, there are no major issues (focus, exposure etc), but artistically, I think there's a little room for improvment. Consider your backgrounds; try and find scenes that are going to be less distracting (eg the last image is very confusing; what's lizard and what's tree?). #5 is well done; good scene, minimal distractions.

[Derrel]

I'd echo tirediron's C&C...his points of view are often pretty close to those that I hold about topics photographic. My favorite shot is of Tholus, the male panther chameleon, mainly because it is a simple photo, and the human finger gives a sense of scale. A good number of reptile owners seem to take photos of their pets (no surprise, since they are such cool-looking creatures), and one thing I see most often in reptile shots is average lighting. The most pleasing lighting for reptiles seems to be diffused electronic flash, held up and off-camera a bit, which creates some sense of direvtionality in the light, and also shows the colors off well. Like in the shot of Tiss, the veiled chameleon, hanging onto that vertical branch; the daylight there is just kind of overpowering her coloration,and the lighting is uninteresting.

With a d-slr or other digital camera, it's possible to modify the light of the flash using any number of small factory or home-made devices...one of the best reptile shooters I have ever seen used to use a sheet of typing paper as his flash diffuser/modifier, and it created a very neat, "long and wide" light, which gave a very good catchlight on their eyeballs, and also seemed to make them look, well,quite beautiful. He used to post on dPreview 7-8 years ago, and he shot chameleons mostly,and did great work using his home-made 3 cent typing paper flash diffuser! I thin k the owner's love of their pets often comes through in the best pet photography, so that really helps that you like these little creatures so much.

[CoolMoon]

Technically, there are no major issues (focus, exposure etc), but artistically, I think there's a little room for improvment.

This is what I thought, I like my images but there just not there yet. Most of my shots are from the open door of there cages and croped down since most don't like to be man handled, plus side is there at there most colorfull when pissed off. I thought I might make a backdrop (light or dark?) and set up better lighting.

I only have on camera flash, Cybershot H-7. and finaly found the intensity setting but it's not between shot freindly. I did try some test shots a while back using two different thickness of cigarette rolling pappers, cut to size to cover the flash and stick it with the thin strip of glue on the paper, just can't seem to find them know(the images not the papers). it did make quite a change I'll have to try the typing paper.



Thanks for the comments

[CoolMoon]

Here is Tholus about half an hour ago. he's almost 2 now and very mad, He is usualy green white and blue.

[er111a]

I like 3 and that last one you posted the colors of the lizard look nice.

[Derrel]

Here is Tholus about half an hour ago. he's almost 2 now and very mad, He is usualy green white and blue.

And she said, "My,oh my how your lizard has grown!"

[BuS_RiDeR]

These are just some of our kids past and present, I chose these as they have not been crop just resized. looking for any C&C but any advice on composing or shooting reptiles needed.

thanks

Dave


This is Rub she is a 2 1/2 yr old Female iguana

1.

Hey Dave... I really like the shot of Rub. I'm not a huge fan of lizards... But she is my favorite of the bunch. I did a quick edit on her and adjusted the levels a bit in Gimp...

My 2 cents...

[CoolMoon]

Thanks for the C&C

er111a
yes the colors can be wonderful, so wonderful it's hard to capture and do justice

Derrel
Hehe He dose have that kind of smirk

BuS_RiDeR

Looks good

Rub was "my first" and though she tolerates the wife, Iguana's tend to pick one owner and she's my baby.


Thanks again
Dave

[PerfectlyFlawed]

shot 4, is he standing on his hind legs? or am i smoking crack? haha,..cool little lizard!

[CoolMoon]

PerfectlyFlawed

Thanks I think there cool too!
Yes he is. They have a grip like small vice-grips but he's using his tail wrapped behind the hand for balance. they are capable of inc readable reaching/stretching to go from branch to branch.

Dave