Bad day to be a frog

[Bryan Hix]

I don't know if this works or not and I have been apprehensive about posting it. I had to scramble to capture the action here and ran down a slippery grass bank of a marsh and handheld my 500mm to get it. So, the camera settings are not ideal, but I like the action and miserable look of the frog. I wish the HA was better and the DOF, but it is what it is. The upper right is noisy, but it didn't look right when I ran NR on it, so not sure what to do with it. I look forward to hearing some opinions and whether or not I should save this or junk it.

1DMK3, 500mm f/4 with 1.4x tc
ISO 800, 1/1600, f/5.6
Manual mode, eval meter
PSE7-crop, selective USM and NR, removed greenish color cast

[Axel Hildebrandt]

The head angle might not be ideal but the poor frog makes up for it. I would blur the BG some more.

[Dave Blinder]

Agree on HA, but great action catch Bryan. I'd try to raise the black levels as the face of the GH appears a bit too light, might require shifting the midpoint to the left to compensate. Might consider a slight burn on its breast as well.

[denise ippolito]

Bryan, The frog is fantastic! I agree w/ your self-critique. Not everyday you get a frog hanging by a limb. I'd keep it.

[Bryan Hix]

I selectively blurred more BG and actually decided to clone the right upper BG to lighten it up and make it more uniform. Also darkened down the head and chest.

[denise ippolito]

It does look better.

[Dave Blinder]

Bryan - I've gone pretty heavy on the ACR Recovery tool here as the head still looked washed out for this species to me. There were several blinkies in your jpeg. I used the Fill Light Slider to get back some detail in the shaded areas. Slight boost in contrast as well.

[Peter Farrell]

You did well under pressure to capture this. I would go halfway between the 2 re-posts
Happy New Year
Peter

[Danny J Brown]

Hey Bryan - I'm glad you posted this great action shot of a poor little frog who was in the wrong place at the right time. I certainly wouldn't junk the shot but I don't think the optimization attempts helped much. Its more for the "really cool action shot" files of which we all have many. Thanks again for sharing it with us.

[Arthur Morris]

I think that the photo is better than the image optimization. Had the frog not been spread-eagled on the perfect plane, I would have said scrap it. And yes, 1/2-way between Pane 5 and pane 7 with a bit more Saturation and it would be pretty good. Or maybe just lighten Pane 7 (Good work Dave.)

[Stu Bowie]

Its always great to capture something out of the ordinary, so apart from the HA, you have done exceptionally well under your circumstances. I liked the raised leg of the heron.