Lizard Photography

To get a nice portrait like this

one has to really work hard like this

(Picture shot by Harsha)

This female lizard had just laid it’s eggs and was very protective
about them. This is it’s threat display to scare other animals away. Normally
it’s very tough to photograph these lizards, but this female in Bandipur
was very brave and refused to run.

38 Comments

  1. chandru_bv · November 7, 2005 Reply

    Who is the person who is taking your photo.

  2. cyberscorpion · November 7, 2005 Reply

    Thats a Kick Ass Portrait

  3. sunson · November 7, 2005 Reply

    I can imagine how brave it must have been… one, you on the front and two, ‘harsha’ on its left and then the noise from the camera. Beautiful pic!

  4. Anonymous · November 7, 2005 Reply

    Great shot!

    This shot validates the principle, “Nothing is as easy as it appears”! Great capture! 🙂

    JD

  5. tariquesani · November 7, 2005 Reply

    one has to really work hard like this or be lucky like me to have them all over in your garden ;).

    Great portrait – worth the effort many times over….

  6. jace · November 7, 2005 Reply

    A pity that beautiful tail is out of focus in your portrait.

  7. admin · November 7, 2005 Reply

    There is so much you can do with fixed f/2.8 😉

  8. admin · November 7, 2005 Reply

    I have them all over too, but they are bloody too tough to get a decent eye-level shot.

  9. jace · November 7, 2005 Reply

    Doesn’t it step down to f/32?

  10. Anonymous · November 7, 2005 Reply

    Re: Great shot!

    The second one is a *great capture* too

  11. Anonymous · November 7, 2005 Reply

    tsk tsk KAL

    really kal i never expected you to stoop thi slow in photography ..literally on the grnd..a female finally got you down to this level..muahahhah….

    –G

  12. Anonymous · November 7, 2005 Reply

    Re: tsk tsk KAL

    ok that was “this low” damn the space bar

  13. ashwinne · November 7, 2005 Reply

    Kick ass!

    The second photo is kick ass … shows both the lizard in full pose and the photographer down in the dirt, hard at work!

  14. noelladsa · November 7, 2005 Reply

    Lol they seem very well fed in your garden

  15. arucard2 · November 7, 2005 Reply

    reversed lens?

    I did my fair share of proning, and leopard crawl in the mud last week. But did get some good macros. 🙂

  16. tariquesani · November 7, 2005 Reply

    Yeah! lots of insects, spiders, butterflies and earthworms… nice place :D

  17. deepsan · November 7, 2005 Reply

    best viewed large, just amazing

  18. admin · November 7, 2005 Reply

    You have f/2.8 lens for a reason. WIldlife you are always fighting for the light and I love the contrast at f/2.8. So I rarely bump it unless the lighting is really bright.

  19. arucard2 · November 7, 2005 Reply

    but will it hold when shooting Macro? your DOF is very shallow, so shouldn’t you stop down to get the entire subject in focus?

    I know it depends on the kind of effect you desire, but as a general rule. Also, a guru advised me the more you stop down (towards the sweet spot of the lens), you get better colors and contrast.

  20. eh_donia · November 7, 2005 Reply

    pheno-menon!
    i am just so glad that yathin and your stuff to be up on my list. i feel good. 🙂

  21. drkishoremurthy · November 7, 2005 Reply

    wow.. thats some courageous lizard.. to make a stand at such close distance.. and a nice click too, Kallu.

  22. admin · November 7, 2005 Reply

    I’m always fighting with light when I’m shooting macro. Most of the time at f/2.8, I cannot go faster then 1/200. So I almost always leave my camera at the highest aperture possible.

    But that said, yeah I could have pushed it higher in this case, but well I like this effect anyway 🙂

  23. anoopjm · November 8, 2005 Reply

    maybe she knew ur a ‘gentle giant’ so did not run away 🙂 …. good shot ….

  24. nfpgasmask · November 8, 2005 Reply

    NICE!

    Hi, I friended you cause your photos are excellent. What kind of camera do you use?

    Cheers! Bart

  25. admin · November 8, 2005 Reply

    Re: NICE!

    I use a Nikon D70 body along with bunch of lenses. I shot this picture with 105mm macro lens.

  26. nfpgasmask · November 8, 2005 Reply

    Re: NICE!

    Thanks! This is good to know because I am on the verge of buying a Digi SLR and I am completely torn between the D70 and the Canon equivalent!!!

    😉 Bart

  27. admin · November 8, 2005 Reply

    Re: NICE!

    Wait for 2 more months and pick up the D200 from Nikon. Nothing will come close to that one. I will mostly pick that up as soon as it comes into the market.

  28. nfpgasmask · November 8, 2005 Reply

    Re: NICE!

    Hmmm, cool, thanks for the advice! It just keep getting better and better!

    Keep up the nice work!

    Bart

  29. tariquesani · November 9, 2005 Reply

    Re: NICE!

    Hasn’t D200 already launched price tag around $1900?

  30. admin · November 9, 2005 Reply

    Re: NICE!

    Nikon has announced the camera. It will hit the stores in time for the december holiday season and is priced at $1699

  31. arucard2 · November 9, 2005 Reply

    Re: NICE!

    D200 is good. then will come the 30D (Feb 2006), which will be better. Then the.. 😛

  32. deponti · November 9, 2005 Reply

    All that technical stuff….

    there go all your readers again K….eff slash two hundred and all the rest of it….oh, well, all I can say is, I **ENJOYED** that picture, and the picture of how the picture was taken! I really do like the “how-we-did-it”s on any of the wildlife channels, so do keep documenting the how-you-did-it, as well as the pics themselves.

    One day I look forward to seeing a book of your photographs…and the second section of the book would have the “HWDI” details….

    To me your greatest pics remain the one of the tiger in the night, the majestic look-into-the-camera of the magnificient bird of prey, the leaf with the droplets, the coiled-to-spring snake, the butterflies at Kudremukh…er…they are getting too numerous to enumerate!

  33. kiransatya · November 10, 2005 Reply

    Good One

    This is good one!! did u mange to spot a tiger??!!!!

  34. admin · November 10, 2005 Reply

    Re: Good One

    yeah 🙂

  35. Anonymous · November 24, 2005 Reply

    great

    simply great!
    but be careful so that their secure environment is not threatened.
    Cheers. Have a nice time photographing nature!

    Roxy
    http://www.rock-sea.net/nature

  36. Anonymous · December 2, 2005 Reply

    Amazing pic..

    –Alpha0
    http://geekheads.blogspot.com

  37. Anonymous · December 8, 2005 Reply

    The pic was enchanting – a lizard in the “mom from hell” mode! Wish I had such an impressive MFH display to put up for my kids 😉 Shankari

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