As a wildlife photographer, I’m always looking for interesting and challenging subjects to photograph. Recently, I set my sights on the juvenile Five-lined Skink, a small lizard found in the Ouachita National Forest area of Arkansas. These little lizards are common, but photographing them takes patience and skill.
Identifying a Juvenile Five-Lined Skink
The juvenile Five-lined Skink is identifiable by its bright blue tail, which contrasts sharply with its brownish-gray body. This bright tail likely serves as a defense mechanism. The skink can detach it to distract predators while it escapes. However, this flash of blue also makes the skink easy to spot. Still, getting close enough for a good photo is difficult, as the skinks will dart away quickly at any sign of people.
I previously photographed a juvenile five-lined skink while it was sunning itself, which offered a different look at how these young skinks use warmth and light to their advantage.
To photograph these elusive creatures, I used a Fujifilm X-T3 camera with a Canon EF 100-400mm lens attached with a Fringer adapter. This gave me the flexibility and range I needed to zoom in on the skinks without scaring them away. I set the camera to aperture priority mode, with the settings dialed in to capture the fast-moving skinks:
- Aperture: f/8
- ISO: 1600
- Shutter speed: 1/850 sec
- Exposure value: +0.03
- Focal length: 400mm
With these settings, I was able to freeze the skink’s movement and capture crisp, detailed images. Patience mattered, as I needed to stay quiet and still while waiting for the skink to emerge. The bright sun reflecting off nearby surfaces created harsh contrast at times, producing strong shadows and glare that required careful exposure control.
After many hours tracking these secretive juveniles, I finally captured the shot I wanted. The image highlights the skink’s bright blue tail and small size, framed by weathered wooden steps leading to a porch. Photographing quick-moving reptiles like the five-lined skink tests patience and technical skill, but moments like this show how adaptable wildlife can be, even around human structures.