Often when I encounter wildlife it is a fleeting moment.

There are few occasions when I get to sit and watch and study an animal.

When I encountered this turtle it was just sitting along the bank of a pond.

The painted turtle was enjoying basking in the sunlight.

I was able to stand and watch.

Slowly getting closer tot he painted turtle.

After watching a while I was able to crouch down and slowly continue to get close and closer.

My initial images were of the top part of a turtle, grassy shoreline, and mostly the pond water in the background making up the majority of the image.

But with time and patience I was able to get close enough to capture this close up portrait of the painted turtles head.

Move slowly and cautiously and sometimes you can capture a wide variety of images including close ups of wildlife.

Photo details: Nikon D500. Nikon 300mm f/4. Focal length 420mm. ISO 400. 1/1000 sec. f/5.6.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today.

You can see a variety of turtle photos in my gallery of Animals.