Masked Treefrog

[Steve Maxson]

I was searching for insects at night in Costa Rica when I spotted this Masked Treefrog (Smilisca phaeota) posing nicely on this stem. This was my first time photographing a frog at night so I still have plenty to learn to fine-tune my technique. 1D 4, 100 mm macro, 1/200, f/16, ISO 400, 580EX off-camera, diffused, hh. I cloned many flash-generated spectral highlights and some spider web tangled around one of its feet. I also burned some of the bright areas and dodged some of the darker areas on the frog and ran NR on the background. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Dave Leroy]

Its a beauty and very well done. I really like the colors. The details on the frog turned out extremely well. Nice job on the cleanup and how you avoided the bit of merge in the bg. The frog appears to be shedding.
So if flash was off camera was it on a tripod?

Lovely photo Steve.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Steve, you obviously had a very successful trip! This is another excellent image, I think the image is absolutely superb. I don't think I would change anything but I would just check out the possibility of making the frog just a tad less bright to see if it becomes less contrasting with the background, I don't think it is at all over exposed but I would be curious to see the result.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments Dave and Jon.

Don - the flash was held by my wife and was fired using a radio trigger.

Jon - I'm attaching a repost with the brightness taken down a few points for comparison. I think it looks a little better that way. :S3:

[Jonathan Ashton]

Steve, the first is good but to my eye the second is a little better. Wowee I can't wait for the next images!!:S3:

[Dave Johnson]

Really like this one Steve! Perfect dof and flash work. Good call by Jon to lower the brightness a touch, and I do prefer the re-post. Cracking shot, very well done.

[Gary Esman]

Hi Steve, very cool shot here. The re-post is stunning. Like the colors, sharpness, pose and dark background.

Gary.