Tiny frog on lily pad

[Allen Sparks]

Canon 40D. Canon 300 f4 plus Tamron 1.4x SP Pro Teleconveter, monopod
ISO 400, f13, 1/200s, Exposure Compesation -1/3

Here is one to show I sometime take pics other than dragonflies. I was thigh deep in pond vegetation to get this shot and it was about 100 degrees in Memphis yesterday...I hope other US southerners are surviving the heat. Any comments appreciated.

[Tim Munsey]

Sweet shot, great pose.

Tim

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Loved the way he's (or she's) looking at u, Allen. Did you use a flash ?
If it were mine, I might darken the bottom 1/4ths of the frame a bit so as to make the image a bit more dramatic.

[Allen Sparks]

Thanks Tim and Kaushik. This was taken in natural light...no flash.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Alan, what I like about this shot is your use of DOF to focus attention in this cute frog's head. Kaushiks suggestion may add to the effect. Nice!

[Julie Kenward]

I like Kaushik's idea of darkening the front. I wish you had been able to exclude that partial lily pad at the LRC - maybe darkening that area will help as well. I wish there was a little more DOF on the leg area and wonder if a little bit lower would have been even stronger than the very sweet image you have already.

Since those are not flash highlights I'd probably clone over most of them or at least tone them down a little so they aren't punctuating your scene so much. You got a very sweet capture here! A few small tweaks and I think it could be even better!

[Jonathan Ashton]

Lovely shot, I like the colours, composition and the frog's eye, just a little more DOF would have been ideal, perhaps if the shot had been taken from a slightly greater distance, I am frequently caught out with DOF on animals this size.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Allen, great pose, love his face. Good details and would have liked a little more DOF though out, but works well as is.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Allen,
I feel you can tighten this up crop wise....taking some of the OOF stuff out of play. I am debating the focus point here because at f13.....I expect more in focus and looking at the FG leaf....leaf and water line look pretty sharp. Any way you can check the focus point?
We're not quite as hot here in NJ....thank God!....but I admire your perserverance of getting in the drink!

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Roman, thanks for your comments. I certainly think the focus point is the area of the frog's eye as I took shot after shot focused on the eye and each shot looks about like this one. I was hoping for more DOF too shooting at f13 but I think the angle of the frog must have prevented it -- I could not change my angle without casting a shadow on him - it was late in the day.

[Anita Bower]

The frog in this image looks so real, as if I could reach out and touch it. The lighting and shallow dof focus attention on the head. I like Kaushik's suggestion of darkening the lower portion, in fact, I think drkening all around might work. I'm with Jules on cloning those white spots. Re. focus point--I was recemtly told by a macro photographer that in macro photography, the in focus area is not 1/3 into the image, but 1/2. Haven't tried it out yet.

[Jonathan Ashton]

The frog in this image looks so real, as if I could reach out and touch it. The lighting and shallow dof focus attention on the head. I like Kaushik's suggestion of darkening the lower portion, in fact, I think drkening all around might work. I'm with Jules on cloning those white spots. Re. focus point--I was recemtly told by a macro photographer that in macro photography, the in focus area is not 1/3 into the image, but 1/2. Haven't tried it out yet.

As a general rule it is 1/3 to 2/3 but the ratio changes with magnification, it is reasonably safe to say there is generally more back than front focus (assuming the lens is focussing correctly).:)