Canon 30D, handheld Mamiya 80mm at f8 1/640 second at ISO 800

Just... a little... closer...

I'm quite fond of green anoles (or maybe it's Carolina anoles now, but Anolis carolinensis for the scientific name.) Part of this has to do with the perceived 'personality,' actually a trait of their general reactions to approach by humans – they're a little spooky, but able to be approached with the use of a slow and unobtrusive manner. More of the appeal to me has to do, I think, with the brilliant green coloration and the marvelous mosaic patterns of their skin. And if I'm given the opportunity to capture all of these together, well...

In the NC Botanical Garden, which is the best place near me, hands down, to even see the species, one spooked from the edge of the water on a raised planter, attracting my attention to it since I hadn't spotted the lizard before it moved. It went into shadow only a short distance away and paused, apparently in the hope that I hadn't noticed it. The challenge then became, how close could I get before it spooked again and scampered out of sight?

The answer in this case is, very close; anoles are not large reptiles, and the length of the head seen here doesn't exceed 15mm – that's like the length of the top joint of your pinky finger or less. I credit this to the nature of the anoles themselves and my long practice in moving ever-so-slowly and with very limited lateral motion, which is much more noticeable than going straight in. I got close enough that I even captured a faint vestige of myself reflected in the surface of its eye. The higher ISO that I had to resort to because of the reptile's position in the shade made the background a bit grainy, but in this age of smutphone photos I'm betting very few people even noticed that until I mentioned it...