Back in Time!

This is a turtle, right? Eerie. How close were you?

This is one HUGE turtle! Our neighbor has two of them; he says he bought them 3 years ago from a pet store when they were about 4". They are now about a foot and a half long (the shell)!! He has a male and female. I was about 2' away, shooting through the chainlink fence. Did you notice the fly on her head?

Wow, incredible shot, I love the tones and detail, nice use of DOF, excellent!

Thanks for mentioning about the fly,Kim. Excellent composition,very good exposure and light.

This is impressive, Kim,it looks so primeval. I suppose the fly experienced a landinf far in time.

Great portrait, impressive detail !

Superb details & textures, soft light & nice cropping, so cute! Best regards

Superb sharp details on the head & yes, I see the fly. Good naturan tones & colours as well.

Comments?

Great shot, so much detail around the face.

Great portrait of this ancestor. The exposure is excellent and I really love the facial expression. Best Regards

I thought at first this may have been a Galapagos Tortoise. I guess he isn't quite that big, but still alien enough! ET was apparently based on one of these tortoises, I;m not surprised and I can see the resemblance! Nice warm colours, it looks like it was helped by the light? "Shot through a chainlink fence" - what, you though he might come get you?? Hehe! Nice shot

I see the resemblance to ET for sure! She was in the light and had crawled over close to the fence to see what the heck I was doing. I was on the wrong side of the fence just because we had pulled up alongside the road because one of the turtles was upside-down and we thought it was in trouble. Turns out when they get mad at each other, they will flip the other over. But after a few minutes, they go back and try to unflip it so it won't die. Very interesting!

Very nice work, Kim! Best regards, Ruud.

Fantastic ancient look to these guys - Jurassic Park without the teeth. Great detail and he is posing nicely for you.

Why do I want to see a pair of spectacles on this face?-)

I really like the shallow DOF here, Kim. Basically just his nose and eyes are in focus. That really draws the center of attention toward the viewer. Nice browns....

Interesting creatures - I'll have to stop again and maybe get on the other side of the fence. They aren't afraid of people at all because they are like pets. The neighbor was even "petting" them on the head and he said they like it on the shell, too.

I had never known about their 'feelings' towards each other. I guess I shouldn't even have used inverted commas. Very interesting, thanks for sharing.

Very nice shot, great use of DOF.

nice detail!