Frog Face

[Michael Fanelli]

Very loud bass voice for such a small creature. Longwood Gardens, PA.

[Chunk]

What great lighting with good detail well into the shadows (any secrets to that?). The shallow dof with tack sharp eyes make this a real grabber. At first I was going to suggest elimination of the leaves hanging down into the right side of the frame but I think they enhance the feeling of him being in a secluded hole under the vegetation.

[Michael Fanelli]

What great lighting with good detail well into the shadows (any secrets to that?). The shallow dof with tack sharp eyes make this a real grabber. At first I was going to suggest elimination of the leaves hanging down into the right side of the frame but I think they enhance the feeling of him being in a secluded hole under the vegetation.

I shot this at f/6.3 at 135mm (28-135 IS, still my favorite lens!). This gives it the somewhat shallow DOF. Also, the deep shade and water makes a big difference. I have about a dozen shots at all different settings but this is the one I liked the best. The sharp focus was deliberate. I learned a long time ago "from the masters" that animal shots should focus on the eyes. As I always use the center-spot focus of the digiRebel, this was easy to do.

Oh yeah, shot at 800 ISO and cropped. Not bad at all, the digiRebel does an excellent job!

[joelw135]

Very nice composition, I too thought the leaves were a distraction so I used my hand to block them. But found that they were a very important part of the composition.

[Todd Patten]

I would have liked to see a closer crop. I agree that the leaves are distracting. Also, for me the color and contrast is a little flat. What makes photo's like this that are found in the nature magazines so beautiful are the colors and contrast. It simply needs more "pop".

[dadas115]

Very good work on this shot. I like the leaves as they make the shot a bit more interesting for me. The frog almost appears to be sitting under an umbrella. I am impressed that you could get so close since you only had a 135mm lens!

Greg

[Michael Fanelli]

Very good work on this shot. I like the leaves as they make the shot a bit more interesting for me. The frog almost appears to be sitting under an umbrella. I am impressed that you could get so close since you only had a 135mm lens!

The lake was filled with tadpoles and a few grown frogs. This frog was the only one that allowed me to get this close. I guess it felt safe or maybe it was just lazy. I like the leaves also for the same reason, I wanted more than just a frog.

Also, for me the color and contrast is a little flat. What makes photo's like this that are found in the nature magazines so beautiful are the colors and contrast. It simply needs more "pop".

This is always a problem. Many people are used to seeing (and most love it!) the over-the-top colors and contrast of Velvia film. Outdoor photographers have been using it for decades and try to duplicate the effect with digital. Unfortunately, I have always strongly disliked that super-saturated high contrast look. Frogs don't really come close to glowing in the dark! I deliberately set the RAW conversion parameters to very low saturation and contrast and then juiced them up a bit in Picture Window. The colors are pretty close to what I saw and the scene was, indeed, lower contrast. I tried various higher settings for each but discarded them as too far over-the-top. I realize I am in a minority but hey! It's my photo :-)

Thanks for the comments y'all!