Male Vocalist of the Year

[Andrew McLachlan]

81017

Here is one from last spring. I used to shoot lots of frog images during the spring chorus when I shot film, but never did much when I switched to digital. Last spring I started to do a bit more. I think half the fun with shooting these guys is finding them. On this night there was not one Gray Treefrog in the water. All of them were up in the leaf littler on the forest floor surrounding the pond.

Nikon D200
105 micro lens
ISO 100
f16 @ 1/60 sec.
SB400 on home-made flash bracket

[John Chardine]

Great to see Andrew. These are pretty tiny I think! This images really gives a good impression of how these guys live. I like the way the environment is portrayed. The position of the frog draws your eye as does the dry leaf LR. I think a little dodging on the back of the animal to lighten a bit would work.

I assume these the "peepers" in your area?

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi John,

This is a Gray Treefrog (hyla versicolor). He was about 2 inches.

[Ken Childs]

Hey Andrew, this is a nice environmental and behavioral shot. This is where you find them so it would be virtually impossible to get a shot of this behavior with a clean BG so there's no reason to comment about that. I get the Cope's Gray Treefrogs here and my shots of this behavior would be on the concrete surrounding my swimming pool! :D

I think a slight CCW rotation could help....just enough to get the mouth close to being level. There's a bright area on the throat that looks like it's from the flash and that should be easy to tone down. Overall this looks great and a few tweaks should easily bring it up a notch or 2. Well done! :)

[Valerio Tarone]

Hi Andrew anphibians are the most endangered animals worldwide. It's a goal of Naturphoto to notice it to the people, a good challenge!
Like the eye contact. Good the DOf.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Andrew, great timing on the capture. I like the positioning and not a whole lot you can do when shooting subject on cluttered ground, so I think you did fine. Good details and light on the critter.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks for the comments. Much appreciated. On the endangered note: last spring was the first spring that the Toads (bufo americanus) did not show up and sing in vernal ponds, in an abandoned cattle pasture, behind my home. I could hear them singing in distant ponds, but not the ones I shoot at. The usual spring peepers, gray treefrogs, chorus, wood, green and leopard frogs all showed up. but not one single toad.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Andrew. Good timing to get this guy with his throat sac fully inflated. Also, a nice low shooting angle, good exposure, and nice sharpness where it needs it most. The vegetation around the frog is appropriate for the place and season and I think it adds to the image. In terms of tweaks, I would be tempted to carefully clone some of the flash-generated specular highlights on the frog and to tone down the bright diagonal line near the URC. :) Overall, this is very well done.

[John Hawkins]

I like the fact you caught the throat sac inflated. Don't have anything to add from the above. I just can never seem to find frogs or toads. I hear them but never seem to find them. Thanks for sharing

[Randy Stout]

Andrew:

Very cool capture, I will have to show my daughter , Elizabeth, she loves frogs.

I took a quick look at trying to reduce the flashed look a bit, did a multiply blend mode on the highlights to see if I could even out some of the highlights and specular reflections. Have gone slightly too far, to be sure the changes were noticeable.

Just an option.

Cheers


Randy

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks for the additional comments, much appreciated.

Randy, thanks I'll give that a try. It may also work for others I shot last spring. I love shooting frogs and toads, I have 100's of these on slides, but have started shooting more with digital. Will post some more soon for all to see.