Fisheye Bullfrog

[Andrew McLachlan]

I borrowed a Sigma 15mm Fisheye lens for some bullfrog images and now I have a new favorite lens for such photography. This lens focuses down to 5.9 inches which worked quite nicely on these large frogs. I used the DX crop on the D800 so that I could fill the foreground a little better with the frog and eliminate the sky from the background. The effective focal length of this fisheye lens with the DX crop would be 22.5mm.

Nikon D800
Sigma 15mm f2.8 EX DG Fisheye lens
ISO 400
f16 @ 1/80
Handheld
Live View
Bubble Level

Look forward to comments.

[Loi Nguyen]

I love it! Unique image fir sure. I love the colors here and the shiny eyes. An alternate crop may be taking a little bit off the top to not see the green grass. The highlights on the frog looks just a bit bright to me, but let's see what others say. Well done. Loi

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andrew, one belter of an image, perhaps a little more space below, but not a deal breaker. Good call on the lens as it gives, as Loi mentioned, a uniqueness to the shot, likewise the curvature at the top created by the lens. Very well processed, great detail & form, being slightly overcast I assume has also helped reduce any strong highlights. Nice to have some clear water to show the feet too, however I also like the slight blue cast in the water, has a feel of a CP being used. Just wonder why you had not cranked up the ISO to give yourself a better SS at 1/80 HH? Might clone out the small red dot just above the rear left leg in the centre.

Great image, great work! BTW this reminds me of the one you posted a year ago with the lilly leave on top of the frogs head, another cracking image.

Lets see more from you.

Cheers
Steve

[Morkel Erasmus]

Just love it, Andrew!
I would love playing with a fisheye lens someday...

[shane shacaluga]

What a beauty!! Looks like a 3D image

TFS

[Girish Prahalad]

superbly executed. love the shallow & the surroundings

[Rachel Hollander]

Andrew - another fun image, very well executed! Maybe just a little NR on the bg/top of the image. Looking forward to more.

TFS,
Rachel

[Diane Miller]

Great perspective, love it! But how do you get that close to a frog? Every time I see or even hear one it takes off before I can even begin to sneak up.

[Steve Kaluski]

Excellent fieldcraft IMHO.

[Gabriela Plesea]

I once said I had enough lenses...Having seen this brilliant image, I think I'll buy myself a fish-eye
The frog-eyes (shot with a fish eye) are stunning- also, I love the transition from the sharp head to the feet under water, what lovely effect!

Kind regards,

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks folks for the kind words, very much appreciated.

Steve - I do have more on the bottom and forgot to mention that I cropped a little off the bottom as it was impossible to capture this perspective without the fisheye lens hood reflecting in the water in front of the frog. Thanks for pointing out the reddish highlight.

Morkel - I would love to use a fisheye on the African Bullfrogs...frogs with teeth, can't get any better than that!

Diane - I find the bullfrogs at the lake to be quite tolerant of a close approach, other species not so much. This and most of my bullfrog photos are photographed from a canoe. Perhaps they are so used to me that they figure if they sit still the guy with the camera will soon go away