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RE: PHOTO GOOF II

oneWorld — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:48:09 GMT

Too me it looks like what's wrong with the picture is that the background is blurry.

In photography, there is something called Depth of Field. It refers to how "deep" you want the sharpness of the photo to be or how much is in focus.

In this shot, he blurred the background to eliminate distractions. If you could see all the trees, bushes, rocks and who knows what else is behind the chameleon, the lizard wouldn't "pop" out very much. But with the cham and the branch that hes gripping onto being the only things in focus, thats all that the viewer sees sharply.

RE: PHOTO GOOF II

Crested Man — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 07:37:25 GMT

Too me it looks like what's wrong with the picture is that the background is blurry.

RE: PHOTO GOOF II

Bill Love — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:36:12 GMT

Yes, I used flash to brighten up the shot. Actually, I used it as a 'probing eye' wiggling it this way and that in my left hand to catch his attention. Then, when he looked at it (which was being held next to the lens), I snapped.

RE: PHOTO GOOF II

oneWorld — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:58:44 GMT

Its amazing how eye contact adds so much more to the picture.

Say that again. I usually can never seem to get an animals attention when I'm out shooting so I can get them looking at the camera in a shot. They either don't care or dart off...goodness its the same when I try to take a picture of a person...

RE: PHOTO GOOF II

herps4life — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:50:48 GMT

were you using a flash on him??

what camera/lenes

RE: PHOTO GOOF II

herpdude86 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 15:24:26 GMT

Its amazing how eye contact adds so much more to the picture.

RE: PHOTO GOOF II

Bill Love — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:04:18 GMT

Everyone keyed in on the 'wandering eye', which is a constant problem when shooting chameleons. I'm always wiggling my fingers near the camera lens to get their attention and try to snap when the eye is focued on me. But they tend to keep moving their focus every couple seconds, so I have to be fast and catch it or wait 4 - 8 seconds for the next chance. Unless I want to show the range of motion of a chameleon's eye, I normally never show a shot like the one above because (to me) it signifies an impatient photographer didn't wait for the perfect view.

Other comments addressed that it wasn't a whole body shot. I didn't count that as a problem because it was all too obvious that it was never intended to be a whole body shot. If 95% of the chameleon had been visible, then it may have looked somewhat distracting to not go for the full 100%.

The leaves covering part of the chameleon's body do mask a very small portion, but not what I deemed enough to matter and be distracting. I actually liked them there to add to the scene that the lizard was descending down from where it was hidden in foliage.

Here's the 'good' shot, with the little catchlight sparkle in the eye, that I snapped seconds after the 'bad' one above....

Thanks for commenting!

RE: PHOTO GOOF II

Steve 95 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:55:22 GMT

wasn't looking and the leaves were kind of blocking his beatiful color

RE: PHOTO GOOF II

herpdude86 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 05:37:03 GMT

looking away, not a full body picture, the leaves disract you ( although it does look cool how he appears out of the leaves), and another one for me is that I had to scroll down a bit to see his face.

RE: PHOTO GOOF II

GreenAnole09 — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:39:53 GMT

The little fella was looking away.

PHOTO GOOF II

Bill Love — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:59:02 GMT

Here's another shot I took just a couple weeks ago of an Ambanja panther chameleon Furcifer pardalis -- probably a lost pet -- found in Southwest Florida. I took lots of pics, and this was one of the rejects. Why did I reject it?