Amphibian Angst

This red-spotted newt was a reluctant participant yesterday as the thunder rumbled closer and closer.

He appeared under the same cluster of Jack’oLantern mushrooms I showed you a few days ago–with another amphibian hiding therein.

But to create the shot I wanted, I had to stage the orange vertebrate over and over on the fading orange mushroom and hope to stop the blur of his motion.

What I notice looking at the full resolution image is that the tiny black spots that adorn these creatures so familiar to us, spring until fall, is that the dots are three-dimensional–tiny raised rugosities that–duh–give this creature its rough instead of slimy feel in the hand.

I would have stayed until I got the shot I wanted (with the iPhone 6s default camera app and flash) but the thunder was bearing down upon us and there was a certain degree of photographer angst as well just at that moment.

And more storms are rolling in as I send this post off into the soggy ethers. We are thankful for every drop. Or at least most.