The frustrating thing for a wildlife photographer is that it is impossible to ever photograph a dinosaur. Just imagine looking up at a brachiosaurus munching on tree branches, or having to switch to image stabilization because a T-rex makes the ground vibrate when it walks. How cool would that be? So, I do the next best thing and use Photoshop and detailed models to create scenes that, hopefully, look real. I used to rely on the model manufacturers to provide reptilian skin detail, but a couple of years ago it occurred to me that I could do better than that in making dinosaurs appear to be alive. For this composite of an Amargasaurus, for example, I cloned the skin from a live Meller's chameleon onto the dinosaur. I had photographed the chameleon at my semiannual frog and reptile workshop (held in St. Louis -- the next one is next month), and then in Photoshop I opened both photos -- a shot of the Amargasaurus and the photo of the chameleon -- and cloned from one to the other. We have no idea what colors or patterns extinct dinosaurs displayed, so it's anyone's guess. I also replaced the painted eye that looked artificial with a real eye taken from a gecko, also photographed at the frog and reptile workshop. The landscape image is a scene from the Great Smokies National Park.
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