Galapagos Land Iguana

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 21, 2015114 views8 comments

I had a fun (with the exception of a drowned camera body) and productive tour to the Galapagos last week. There are plenty of close encounters to be had, including many with the large and colorful land iguanas that are unique to the islands.

You'll often find land iguanas resting beneath a cactus. They love to eat the fleshy "meat" of the spiny plants, so they'll sometimes wait for months for a piece to fall to them on the ground.

In this case, I liked the early morning light spotlighting this fellow. Some may find the shadow a distraction, but I liked how it provides some separation from the background and boosts contrast in the profile.

Canon 7DII
Canon 70-200mm + 1.4x
ISO 400
1/400th
f/5

Max

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Morkel Erasmus on January 21, 2015 at 4:47 PM

Really nice light, textures and colour here bud.
The shadow does provide some nice separation and isolation.

Registered on March 22, 2011, 385 Posts, 2068 Comments

Comment posted by John Launstein on January 22, 2015 at 5:38 AM

I don't know, Max...not sure if there's enough detail on the Iguana really.

NOT. It's a great portrait for sure but I seriously get distracted by by all the scales and cool skin.

Great colours as well and the eye is phenomenal. My only nit might be the shadow is a trifle more obvious than I would normally consider ideal, but can't argue with the added benefit of contrast and separation! I only wish it had softer edges maybe...or the opposite and was a razor sharp silhouette of the iguana. Great image anyway!

Registered on April 5, 2011, 223 Posts, 1193 Comments

Comment posted by Brad Hill on January 23, 2015 at 9:26 AM

HI Max,

This is one of those shots where there's lots for the eye to dine on - my eye lingered on the scales for quite some time. I'm fine with the shadow and tend to share your view that it adds separation from BG and contrast. I have what might seem like a bit of an odd comment and/or observation, but from the first time I looked at this image (and even the thumbnail) I've felt like I didn't want the shadow clipped off (as it is near the URC). To me that clipping feel adds a slight feel of "abruptness" to the shot...

Cheers...

Brad

Registered on May 29, 2007, 431 Posts, 6061 Comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on January 23, 2015 at 10:40 AM

Brad, I'm glad you brought the "shadow clipping" up. It crossed my mind as well. Unfortunately, the edge of the cactus is just out of the frame, and as a result the complete iguana shadow was not on it. It definitely would have been nice to have the full profile in shadow against that background.

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Luke Ormand on January 23, 2015 at 2:22 PM

Superb detail and really nice lighting. Good job on the colors as well

Registered on February 4, 2009, 1093 Posts, 7035 Comments

Comment posted by Ken Archer on January 23, 2015 at 6:49 PM

I really like the colors of this handsome iguana. You captured his profile beautifully, I like the contrast the shadow adds to the portrait.

Very Nice Work Max

Registered on October 28, 2004, 222 Posts, 6683 Comments

Comment posted by William Bickle on January 25, 2015 at 8:53 AM

Hello Max

Excellent detail

Bill

Registered on June 13, 2011, 183 Posts, 1702 Comments

Comment posted by Karen Kane on January 26, 2015 at 1:09 AM

Cool character Max. I also like the separation provided by the shadow. Love the colour and details in the scales.

Registered on August 4, 2012, 66 Posts, 726 Comments