Tom Swift

Fence Swift

I’m not sure I have any other images these 13 years here of a lizard. They just–at least until lately–have not been able to survive winters this far north.

A generation from now, we may have reticulated pythons and Gila Monsters on Goose Creek if the warm moves much farther north.

This small “fence swift” (I have named him Tom) was down around the garden this morning, and the macro format of the Lumix LX7 handled it quite well.  The iPhone and the D200 would not have done as well in the low light. This image was taken with the digital zoom (7X) and produced a perfectly acceptable image–at least for computer monitor viewing.

I’m having issues (you can yawn now) with taking the raw files (RW2) to work them in Photoshop 5. Adobe and Panasonic are not playing well together. Maybe there’s a fix that’s not too onerous. DNG converter may qualify as unacceptable.

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fred
fred

Fred First holds masters degrees in Vertebrate Zoology and physical therapy, and has been a biology teacher and physical therapist by profession. He moved to southwest Virginia in 1975 and to Floyd County in 1997. He maintains a daily photo-blog, broadcasts essays on the Roanoke NPR station, and contributes regular columns for the Floyd Press and Roanoke's Star Sentinel. His two non-fiction books, Slow Road Home and his recent What We Hold in Our Hands, celebrate the riches that we possess in our families and communities, our natural bounty, social capital and Appalachian cultures old and new. He has served on the Jacksonville Center Board of Directors and is newly active in the Sustain Floyd organization. He lives in northeastern Floyd County on the headwaters of the Roanoke River.

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  1. Your lizard seems to have lost his tail! Very good macro shot. Good luck with your raw converting. Allen finds JPEG just fine mostly, although if the exposure needs dramatic modifying, he’s out of luck.

  2. The RAW problem comes from Adobe’s habit of not upgrading RAW plug-ins for older versions of software. Remember that Photoshop 5 is nearly 15 years old. The current version of Photoshop (CC) is 14.

  3. I think you’ll find the upgrade experience with Adobe to be quite repugnant. I think I went from Elements 6 to 11 when I got this new Mac in December and I was shocked that the upgrade was only $10 cheaper than the new price! Adobe has it down pat in how to suck money out of your pocket, that’s for sure. Best of luck!!

  5. I thought at first that the tail was just out of focus on the near side, but now that I look at it, yep, tip is missing. This probably indicates a near miss by a crow, fox, or other opportunistic carnivore. Some lizards (like the blue tail skinks we infrequently also see around here) have a readily-detachable tail they can sacrifice at will, leaving the hindmost part wiggling before a befuddled predator, while the rest of the creature uses the distraction to escape.

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