California Tiger Salamander

These guys are federally threatened and only occur in California. They are being threatened by habitat loss primarily, but are also threatened by a closely-related introduced salamander that is breeding with our endemics and swamping the native genotypes. This was a 6 second exposure taken at ISO100 and f13. C&C welcome.

why such a long exposure?

Jeremy87 wrote in post #9500773
why such a long exposure?

ISO100 + f13 + pitch black = 6 second exposure.

I think the question was, why not use a higher ISO? Nice pic, he must have held very still for you.

Because its not necessary with most amphibians - they stay still. Also my camera does NOT handle high ISO well at all. At 400 it is visibly grainy to the point where I have to throw them out and 200 doesn't buy me much in terms of a shorter shutter speed, so I just use 100 at all times.

Nice shot. I have been doing a bit this past summer using flash in the late evening with things like snakes and toads and having pretty good luck. Thanks for sharing. Rick

Very very nice. Such a prize to capture a disappearing species. It's amazing how changes in our environment, natural or not, can endanger something like this.

Thanks for the comments. I deal with these guys on a semi-regular basis. The sad thing about this species is habitat loss is easy to track but trying to prevent the spread of the non-native/hybrid animals is really difficult especially when you have native and non-native animals occurring in the same pools. And don't kid yourself, it's all human threats - even the introduction of the non-native salamanders were brought here as fishing bait and released into the pools where the natives reside.

Looks gooey! LOL!