New Here--Couple of Pictures for C&C

[Karen in FL]

I've been using my little Canon Powershot SX100 IS to photograph the little brown anole lizards that are everywhere around here. I'd mostly been just using the camera in the Program mode with macro. But after reading a lot here in the past few days, I set the camera on Manual and took some lizard pictures adjusting the settings myself.

There are lots of baby brown anoles around the base of our palm tree, a very hard place to shoot because it's shady and dim. It's also been very overcast with occasional rain the past few days. But with the manual settings, I was actually able to get a few pictures I liked in spite of the location and weather.


First, just to give an idea of the actual size of a baby anole, here is NON-manual sunny day shot. The little lizard is narrower than a blade of grass and the body (nose to start of tail) is an inch or less long.

And here are a couple of baby anole photos I took in the past day or so with manual settings, in the shady area under the tree in cloudy weather. I cropped both but didn't do anything else to the pictures, so you could see what I managed by adjusting the settings.


f2.8, 1/60 second, ISO 100 (today, just before a thunderstorm)

f3.5, 1/125, ISO 80 (the other day, weather somewhat brighter--also, the baby lizard is posing on a white pebble)

I'd appreciate any comments, suggestions, criticism! I want to learn and improve my photography skills and move up to a more complex camera.

 

[choudhrysaab]

wow ... awesome clarity from your P&S. good Macro shots =)
sorry i'm not an expert to give you useful pointers on your pictures.

 

[ladybug31087]

i too am very impressed with the clarity you got from a P&S just goes to show its the photog. and not the equiptment.

 

[Samanax]

#1 - I don't care for this one because you can't see the lizard's face and it's almost centered in the frame. The exposure looks good with good clarity, contrast and sharpness.

#2 - I like this image better than the first one. You have several compositional elements working nicely in this one. The stacking lines, the angle of the lizard, fairly shallow DOF are all working nicely. The eye is in focus and the muted colors actually work nicely with this shot. Exposure looks good. Looks like he's checking the weather.

#3 - I like this image better than the first one too. I like that you filled the frame with the lizard, nice textures in the rock, even the background debris isn't that distracting. The exposure is good and it's a nice clean, clear shot.

 

[choudhrysaab]

i wudn't dismiss the equipment all together. i mean sure its the photographer who takes the award winning picture but the equipment really does help a lot as well. =)

 

[manaheim]

Not a comment on your pictures, but interestingly... I saw those little anoles or whatever the heck they are and went "Man, those look just like the ones in Florida..." Sure enough, you're from FLA. Maybe I should be some kinda lizard spotter or something.

 

[manaheim]

ooo... look at that. I was right! They were anoles! Man! I rock!

 

[Karen in FL]

Thank you all for commenting, I appreciate it! I haven't worked much with manual settings and I wanted some other opinions on how those pictures turned out.

I'd like to move up to a better camera and I've been reading a lot here on that topic.

Samanax, thank you for the detailed critique of each picture--it was very helpful! I agree about the first picture, the lizard is pretty much centered and the photo would have looked better cropped differently. I guess I was mostly thinking about showing how tiny the lizard really is next to the blades of grass for size comparison, and I didn't really think about the overall composition as much. I was more careful and thought more about the composition in the second and third pictures.

Manaheim/Chris, yes, brown anoles from Florida! We also have green anoles around here but not as many of them.

 

[dak1b]

love the lizard...very clear

 

[Samanax]

We have those brown anole lizards here in Hawaii too...they keep our two dogs entertained everytime we take them walking.

I can't get very close to them here...they run and hide whenever we're walking around the house...I think they've wary of the dogs...

 

[Karen in FL]

Yeah, anoles are small, alert, quick, and skittish, so it's challenging but fun to photograph them. I love it when I get a good shot.

They do tend to get somewhat used to people they see regularly, making them a little more likely to sit still for a moment before running away. (I walk around the yard with my camera every day.) Male anoles want to defend their territory too, so they're often a bit bolder and apt to sit still a bit longer. It's still always a challenge though!

 

[manaheim]

My mom's cat is a master of catching the little buggers.

 

[g-fi]

I really like #3! Good job!