Blending

[Irish]

I found these young lizards, bearded dragons, under a sheet of metal one early morning. I got right in their faces but they just hugged the ground even closer trying to blend with the red earth.

I would be interested in what others think about this image, inparticular the very shallow DOF.

BLENDING

[Steph_B]

I found these young lizards, bearded dragons, under a sheet of metal one early morning. I got right in their faces but they just hugged the ground even closer trying to blend with the red earth.

I would be interested in what others think about this image, inparticular the very shallow DOF.

BLENDING

Hi Irish,

Isn't this one of the featured photo on the home page of PR?

The shallow DOF is an interesting issue. When I first saw it, I thought 'gee, there is clearly not enough DOF here'... but now I am not sure anymore. I believe that you could use a tighter crop around the heads of the lizard and keep the shallow DOF.

I am not sure that having the whole pic crystal clear would have been good, since everything is prettily much in the same color tonality. We might not have been able to distinguish between the soil and the lizards.

Maybe adopting a lower viewpoint and keeping the shallow DOF to really emphasize their heads might have been better...

Cheers,

Steph.

[Steph_B]

Maybe adopting a lower viewpoint and keeping the shallow DOF to really emphasize their heads might have been better...

Well... beside digging yourself into a hole, it seems that you were already as low as you could! please disregard!

[Irish]

Hi Irish,

Isn't this one of the featured photo on the home page of PR?

Yes it is.......

I was not aware of that - that would explain the number of hits. Thanks for the info.

I was about to reply - "How low can you go????" , but I see you have answered that question yourself.

....I believe that you could use a tighter crop around the heads of the lizard and keep the shallow DOF.

I am not sure that having the whole pic crystal clear would have been good, since everything is prettily much in the same color tonality.

I agree with you here. I like the way the focus fades from head to tail but would have like a little deeper DOF giving more clarity to the head and scale detail.

We might not have been able to distinguish between the soil and the lizards.

Part of the appeal of the image, to me, is infact the way these little guys (only about 5 inches long from head to tip of tail) blend so well with their surroundings.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions Steph.

Andy S

[Hindey]

As far as my inexperienced eye goes, this is a brilliant photo. I really like the shallow DOF; it adds far mroe to the image than it subtracts!

[Spike]

I like your composition, I like the monochromatic color scheme, and I like the dof. If your camera was already on the ground, then I guess you were as low as you could go. Now, stop scaring the wildlife. (j/k)

Spike