More blue spotted sallies

[Sushigaijin]

Went out to a couple of vernal ponds in cook county, IL today. Was hoping to turn up tiger salamanders, redbelly snakes, or smooth green snakes - struck out on everything except a copious amount of blue spotted salamanders. Probably 100 total on the trip, in about four hours. Still in pursuit of the perfect blue spot photo, I used a homemade diffuser on the onboard flash to bring out some of the detail and even out the lighting.

Here's a shot of the diffuser, I made it from the side walls of a gallon goat's cheese tub. A coolwhip container might yield similar results. The back end fits in the hot shoe, and the front end around the lens barrel. It works very well for avoiding lens shadow at close working distance, and softens the light for macros. Since my macro lens is only 50mm (100mm FF) the working distance is four or five inches from the element. You can see how it fits in the photo, I had to use a film SLR for a model (before onboard flash) because I only have one digital camera right now!

[Dylan8i]

that last one is great! if only they bathed regularly and kept cleaner- j/k!

[jgredline]

I agree, Love the last one..

[scott-devon]

Very nice shots and an interesting flash diffuser for sure. I'll have to try that one...

[Jaedon]

the diffuser leaves an interesting catch light in the eyes. I like the lighting but the square catch light kinda takes away from the image. Might want to clone the corners in post to make it look a bit more natural. It is most visible in the last shot posted in this series.

[mn shutterbug]

Very ingenious. Now I know what a blue sally is. Cool shots.

[Sushigaijin]

the diffuser leaves an interesting catch light in the eyes. I like the lighting but the square catch light kinda takes away from the image. Might want to clone the corners in post to make it look a bit more natural. It is most visible in the last shot posted in this series.

I've been thinking about this. Catch lights are tough things to post process - they either look natural, or look totally fake, and there isn't much in between. Falloff around the edges seems to be the key element, rather than intensity or shape. One way I've post processed strange catch lights in the past is to paint a layer mask over them, and then use a soft-edged brush to reveal a circular amount of the existing catch light. It works well for large ones, but the working distance here is too great for that technique to work properly. I think I will have to manufacture a catch light from scratch, which sucks.

One thing, I sure am glad I'm not shooting with a ring flash or a twin flash, those are even funnier catch lights!

[Loupey]

Excellent use of your brain and resources! Thanks for posting these examples.

I didn't notice the catchlight. I keep finding myself staring and smiling at how these salamanders seem to have an eternal smile.

Make me wonder what they're always thinking about. Yeah, probably the same thing