This has a tranquil feel to it Leon. Guess he/she was just "chillin" eh? Nice colours, POV and DOF. Are they skitterish? Reason I ask is that on one of my shooting assignments in Northern California at a place called Whiskey Town there were thousands of Skinks on the beach and boy were they on the move. Good stuff Leon.

Randall Beaudin wrote:

This has a tranquil feel to it Leon. Guess he/she was just "chillin" eh? Nice colours, POV and DOF. Are they skitterish? Reason I ask is that on one of my shooting assignments in Northern California at a place called Whiskey Town there were thousands of Skinks on the beach and boy were they on the move.

Good stuff Leon.

>>>

G?Day Randall:

I can see how you might consider this a tranquil scene (shady hues and ivy); however, this little carnivore was mighty weary of me showing any interest in him and managed to keep his distance ? no matter how close I continued to try to get.

This adult male wasn?t just sunning on a hot rock; he?d scampered across a driveway, and up a long red brick walkway until he finally found some refuge on a red brick; all the while I tried to look as though I no longer had any interest in him ? until I eventually eased the camera up and got him in my viewfinder once again and began shooting.

If you can work your way to within six feet of an anole you?re doing a good job. I shot this at maximum zoom with the C-8080 (which equates to 140mm ? on a 35mm format). A 200mm lens would be a major improvement, and a 300mm lens would be a major-major-major improvement (especially if it was fast, like f-2, or f-2.8 ? not f-4.5 or f-5.6)!

We have skinks in Florida and they are also weary of humans (more so than anoles!). First they scamper; then they wriggle their way under leaf clutter and then they?re gone. Anoles, on the other hand, just scamper and climb when they have to.

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement.

-leon