Green Tree frog.

[Jim Bridges]

This little green tree frog (about one inch long) was hiding in the tall grass in one of the grassland prairie areas at Brazos Bend SP and finally moved up into the morning sunshine. I made this with my D80 Nikkor AF 75-300/4.5-5.6 with 20 mm extension tube on a tripod. ISO 400 f7.1 @1/400 sec. PP with NX 2. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome and appreciated.

[Jonathan Ashton]

I think it is a most impressive image I really like the composition and the pose. I may well be wrong here but i suspect you may have done some cloning or brushing with the greens to smooth things out a little - I sense there is a little jiggery pokery going on near the tail end of the frog? The highlights are a little too bright and some are burned out. The left foreleg is a strange colour I wonder if you have used Shadows highlights already and possibly over flattened here? Sorry I am beginning to sound overcritical when I do actually think this is a very good image:o

[Jim Bridges]

I think it is a most impressive image I really like the composition and the pose. I may well be wrong here but i suspect you may have done some cloning or brushing with the greens to smooth things out a little - I sense there is a little jiggery pokery going on near the tail end of the frog? The highlights are a little too bright and some are burned out. The left foreleg is a strange colour I wonder if you have used Shadows highlights already and possibly over flattened here? Sorry I am beginning to sound overcritical when I do actually think this is a very good image:o

Thanks for your comments Jonathan and you're not being overcritical at all. I post here to get help from other folks on what they see. No sir I didn't do any cloning to the image BG... at f7.1 about the only sharp area was around the head area and I did a little selective USM to that area. Except for cropping the rest is as it recorded. I'm still working on my PP skills with NX 2. The foot is a little funky looking in original file as well.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jim,
I looked at what Jonathan said.....then saw your response....so trying to figure out what to recommend. I love the potlit effect and your sharpness is where it had to be......I even like the falloff in this case. Perhaps going a few points darker ...just a few....on the bright area of the BG and rear leg only....so it faded more????.....in any case, I think this ws very nicely done!

[Steve Maxson]

I really like the way the soft light is striking the frog's face, Jim. I also like the diagonal comp and the light area in the background that helps to outline the frog's back. If this was mine, I would carefully clone out most of the specular highlights on the front of the frog's face which would give the light an even softer feel.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Jim, I like the composition and the light. I do wish there was a bit more light on the frog. The overall image is a bit dark now.

[Julie Kenward]

I love the face area and the overall crop. I do think the back half of the frog takes on an almost "muddy" characteristic, though. If bringing that area up in light doesn't help, I'd consider going even darker down there to cover that "murky" feeling. Like Jon, I wondered if you had done some cloning. I do think you have a good image here overall but a few more tweaks in the field settings of the camera or the angle at which you were standing might have improved upon it even more.

[Jim Bridges]

Thanks so much for the comments and ideas on improving my photos they are all great and have given me a lot to think about as I'm processing them. I really appreciate your help!