Jerry the Bearded Dragon

Yesterday we got our daughter a baby Bearded Dragon.  I knew that I wanted to photograph him so I decided to use a recently completed solar system puzzle on my kitchen table next to the widow for some needed light, color and texture.  I wanted to capture the detail of his scales and also play on the idea of scale and size.  The curve of the sun in the puzzle mirrors the curve of the lizards back which added to the overall composition.  I chose my 24-70mm lens at f2.8 for a very shallow depth of field to make the lizard pop.  I enhanced the image using the Quick Selection tool, Levels and the Unsharp Mask in Photoshop.  I didn't crop the image, which I was happy about.  I try not to crop unless absolutely necessary - a personal preference.