"Who are you looking at?"

[FootLoose]

I haven't been able to get out with the camera for a few weeks for various reasons, and in desperation I shot a few of these little guys a day ago. My garden is usually alive with them, but since this effort they seem to have moved on. I guess they want their privacy...

I'm mostly interested in what people think of the compostion of this photo, but all C & C welcome

Shot in raw and converted to jpg. 200mm, 1/250s, f/11, ISO 400, Av, spot metering.

[jeeperman]

Nice capture. I think if it were me I would crop in much tighter getting rid of half of the un needed clutter.

[Bobobird]

Excellent catch and capture.

Paul has a valid point, the image can be much stronger with less clutter and forcing attention to the animal by using a tighter crop.

[AB26]

Must say you did very well in capturing this guy showing the environment they live in. It is not as sharp as I would have liked it to be, however a bit of charpening in PP could do the job.
I like the mood with sun and shade and the way it is looking at you.

Well done Greg.

[Shadowman]

Very nice, i think the background adds to the mystique and sometimes danger of these creatures camouflaged in the flora. I'd like to think I could spot a lizard or snake in the wild before stepping on it, but that is what nearly happened about a year ago during a caving excursion. I was walking near a lake busily looking at my camera settings and very nearly stepped on a lizard. I would have if it had not finally moved out of the way. I got a few good shots and then looked to my right and there was another one. It later reminded me of the scene in the latest remake of King Kong (with Adrian Brody and Jack Black) when one of the adventurers is sitting on a log, suddenly these cute little dinosaurs appear, the adventurer is frightened at first, then....well you have to see for yourself.

[Geoff F]

I would certainly crop closer, and probably end up with a different size ratio.

There is little of interest on the right side so I would lose the larger of those plants. The tail is dark and partially hidden so it won't matter if some of that is lost.

Whether anything is also reduced from the left side is open for discussion; but I certainly wouldn't crop a lot closer here. I think a tiny bit could go from the top though.

Which leaves a choice between 3 x 2 or 5 x 4 ratio. Either could work.

[FootLoose]

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I was indeed lucky to capture this fellow in this pose. ... and to get him so sharply in focus - 250mm hand held at about 1.5m from teh subject. Although some of the sharpness was lost in conversion from raw to tiif to jpg. I've only just begun to shoot raw and the pp is still very much trial and error.

I have followed you're suggestions for a tighter crop: it is now about 50% of the original. I was initially concerned to show the lizard in its natural context and I wanted to preserve the diagonals because I think body 'blend's in with them. But I can see now it is possible to achieve that and get in much closer. I have applied more sharpening to the guy's head and a bit of burning and blurring to the clutter in the foreground.

Thank you for taking the time to view and comment

[jeeperman]

I like this much better, nicely done.

[BJ Denning]

Very nicely done. Love the composition with him exiting the shade. And the DOF is nice as well.

[Didace]

I'll jump in on preferring the tighter crop. The first one didn't do too much for me but now my attention is zeroed in on the little guy looking back at me. Well done. It might be worth it to see if it helps out to darken some of the background. Especially the upper-left corner.

[Geoff F]

Yes, a nicely balanced scene now.