Blue Spotted Salamander

Gallery: WildlifePosted July 9, 2013146 views3 comments

My wife found this blue spotted salamander while stacking firewood. I setup the shot by placing the salamander on the backside of a moistened piece of bark. I liked the interaction of the blues with the orange of the foreground. The orange in the bark deepened from the moisture and I shot the image with some flash to provide some slippery highlights to the salamander. I adjusted curves and then pulled back the saturation slightly. The image was cropped for composition and final sharpening was done on a layer with Topaz Detail. K5 IIs, 300mm f4, 32mm extension,flash, 1/125sec exposure at f8, iso 800

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Gary Gulash on July 10, 2013 at 1:42 AM

Nice job on the flash and sharpness Jim. I really like the way the tail curls within the framing you chose. The bark is natural of course and does add color, but think I might have preferred something a bit more subdued for the salamander to rest on to give more prominence to him/her in the photo. This is purely my opinion and there is nothing wrong at all with your choice though.

Registered on January 28, 2005, 879 Posts, 12098 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on July 10, 2013 at 11:26 AM

Nicely set-up and executed; a stunning color combination indeed Jim!

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Steeve Marcoux on July 10, 2013 at 12:27 PM

Hi Jim,
still like that shot, well done, the colors combination is great.

Steeve

Registered on November 23, 2012, 15 Posts, 76 Comments