I am intrigued by eyes and the evolution of sight. This has to be one of the most unusual eyes in the animal kingdom. It is the eye of a tokay gecko that I photographed in my semi-annual frog and reptile workshop in St. Louis (the next one is in June 2021). I used a 50mm macro lens plus two extension tubes to allow super close focusing. In order to have complete depth of field (except for the lower left corner), I used the smallest lens aperture available -- f/32. The even illumination came from a ring flash. The working distance between the flash and the subject, about 3 inches, meant there was enough light for the small aperture and, at the same time, this kind of close proximity created diffused light for a shadowless look. The reptile didn’t seem to mind the brilliant burst of light in its eye and didn’t react when the flash was fired. In post-processing, I used the clone tool in Photoshop to clone out the unwanted reflection in the eye from the ringflash.
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