Marine iguanas were my favorite animal that we encountered in the Galápagos Islands. They were on every island that we visited but were slightly different in size and color depending upon which island the species evolved on. They spend most of the day lounging on the black lava rock of the majority of the islands, but head out to sea when they want to eat the vegetation found beneath the surface of the water. Nikon D700 with Nikkor 17-35mm lens (at 17mm) ISO 800, f/4.5 at 1/4000th of a second
Thanks Rachel, if there’s one thing that I always try to do, it’s get on the ground. Almost always a more interesting perspective — especially for smaller animals.
Sean, I notice that you were shooting at 1/4000. Was your subject matter, by any chance, in perpetual motion making you want to select a super fast shutter speed, or did you purposely elect the wider aperture f/4.5 which resulted in the fast shutter speed? It is a great shot and I agree with Rachel’s low level comment.
Hi Sue, I was working fast on this one so wasn’t as considered as usual with my camera setting choices. By default I’m usually at 800 ISO unless it gets very bright, in which case I lower it to 400. I very rarely go lower than that for anything other than landscapes because 400 and 800 are just so good on modern Nikon and other cameras. So at 800, I then chose a fairly wide aperture to narrow the depth of field and draw attention to the iguana. In addition, the light wasn’t ideal so I was masking that fact by blurring out most of the background. So with that combo (800 ISO and f/4.5 shooting in aperture priority) the resulting shutter was 1/4000th. Way more speed than I needed for a slow moving marine iguana but it was the proper exposure for the other settings that I deliberately chose. I may have tried a few other shots with a wider aperture but liked this one best. I’ll have to go back and take a look to see if that was the case.
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Marine iguanas were my favorite animal that we encountered in the Galápagos Islands. They were on every island that we visited but were slightly different in size and color depending upon which island the species evolved on. They spend most of the day lounging on the black lava rock of the majority of the islands, but head out to sea when they want to eat the vegetation found beneath the surface of the water.
oh what a great cresure here on earrth, that God has put here on earth for us to enjoyed.
—– Cold seas sustainance
—– And suns warming energy
—– Thermodynamics.
Love the low level of the shot! BTW, I travel vicariously through your photography as I will never be able to travel as much as you do!
Thanks Rachel, if there’s one thing that I always try to do, it’s get on the ground. Almost always a more interesting perspective — especially for smaller animals.
Sean, I notice that you were shooting at 1/4000. Was your subject matter, by any chance, in perpetual motion making you want to select a super fast shutter speed, or did you purposely elect the wider aperture f/4.5 which resulted in the fast shutter speed? It is a great shot and I agree with Rachel’s low level comment.
Hi Sue, I was working fast on this one so wasn’t as considered as usual with my camera setting choices. By default I’m usually at 800 ISO unless it gets very bright, in which case I lower it to 400. I very rarely go lower than that for anything other than landscapes because 400 and 800 are just so good on modern Nikon and other cameras. So at 800, I then chose a fairly wide aperture to narrow the depth of field and draw attention to the iguana. In addition, the light wasn’t ideal so I was masking that fact by blurring out most of the background. So with that combo (800 ISO and f/4.5 shooting in aperture priority) the resulting shutter was 1/4000th. Way more speed than I needed for a slow moving marine iguana but it was the proper exposure for the other settings that I deliberately chose. I may have tried a few other shots with a wider aperture but liked this one best. I’ll have to go back and take a look to see if that was the case.