Texas Horned Lizard

I agree that the hot areas are minor. Just saw a nice profile of this animal in last weeks first episode of "LIFE" and they are pretty amazing lizards. I liked the softness of the OOF vegetation which balances the harshness of the horns

- Luke

Excellent! I think this is a really nice shot of a favorite critter of mine. I like the low angle you have here and the "expression" and pose of the lizard is really cool. I like the way he "pops" from the OOF BG and foreground. The light may be a bit harsh but not that bad. It would be nice to see the feet and forelegs a little better but that horny head is the key element to me. You would have had to take a higher angle to get the feet and legs and I would opt for the low angle as you did. When I was a kid in Oklahoma these guys were quite easy to find in my relatively undeveloped neighborhood. We called them horny toads! I know for a while they were getting kind of scarce but I hope they are making a comeback. Perhaps as a researcher you can enlighten me on their current status.

Thanks Robert!

Unfortunately these guys have dissappeared over much of their range, due in large part to over-collecting for the pet trade, believe it or not! They used to range well into Eastern Texas, Arkansas, and even Louisiana. But the populations in those areas are very small or non-existant now. But fortunately there are still many areas where this species is doing very well! It's the state reptile of Texas (my home state) and one of my favorites!

Thanks for your comments,

Matt

Hi Matt and welcome to NPN This is a very cool first post in the Fauna Gallery. What makes this so strong IMO is the super low angle and that curious look this little dragon is giving you. I like the chosen DOF, it renders the surrounding grass in both FG and BG as a nice non-distracting framing around the critter. The harsh light was well handled and if technically there are some small hotspots on the white scales that really is a non-issue. I am looking forward to seeing more of your work here as well as comments

Hi Matt,

Great angle and pov on this one, also love the pose which works very well with your chosen composition. the image is a little hot (light wise) but thats very minor. Overall a very pleasing image and I'm looking forward to seeing mroe of your work!

Cheers!


Jorne

His alert, upright posture creates many nice angled lines, as do those background grasses. I also like his triangular shape. In the perfect situation it would have been good to not have to shoot through those foreground grasses, but as Vincent noted, you handled it very well. Good one!

Like the lighting and the details in the lizards head. Could be just a little darker.