Young Spanish photographer Carlos Perez Naval has taken a better picture at the age of 10 than I will ever take.
This is a sad reality. Perez Naval’s talent is unmistakable. His photographs of bobcats, bears and frogs and snakes are absolutely stunning.
Now Perez Naval has been recognized as the Young Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2014 by the Natural History Museum for his prize-winning photograph of a stinger in the sun. 
It’s a common yellow scorpion and is flourishing its sting as a warning.
Carlos found the scorpion basking on a flat stone in a rocky area near his home in northeast Spain. Torralba de los Sisones is not only Carlos’ home, it’s a place where reptiles also live.
The late afternoon sun was casting such a lovely glow over the scene that Carlos decided to experiment for the first time with a double exposure. He started with the background using a fast speed so as not to overexpose the sun and then shot the scorpion using a low flash.
When he changed his lenses, using his zoom for the sun, that’s when the scorpion noticed the movement and raised its tail.
Carlos then had to wait for it to settle before taking his close-up, just in time for the last bit of light to illuminate the body of the scorpion.
The end result is a remarkable photo of a scorpion doing what scorpions do: preparing to defend itself in case of an attack.
Carlos shot the picture using a Nikon D300 + 105mm f2.8 lens (28–300mm lens for the background); 1/320 sec at f10; ISO 320; flash.
Photo credit: Carlos Perez Naval
