Leopard Frog Fractalius

[Andrew McLachlan]

This morning I ventured up to Tiny Marsh near Barrie, Ontario hoping for sunrise photos - not a cloud in the sky. Yuck! After grabbing a handful of pre-dawn wetland images I ventured over to the boardwalk trail to see what the local population of frogs was doing. There are many Leopard Frogs at this location and this morning there was lots of young frogs hopping around after completing their metamorphosis. This guy is rather small at only about an inch maybe a little more. I find Leopard Frogs to be a challenge as they don't sit still for long and they don't usually let you get in close.

This image was handheld using my Nikon 105mm micro lens and SB400 on homemade flash bracket.

Applied Fractalius using the 'Glow 100" preset and then masked back in various sections of the photo at varying percentages and then final tweaking in Viveza. Before running the image through Fractalius I did a ton of cloning for flash generated highlights.

Look forward to comments.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Andrew, great detail in the frog brought out by the filter with the backround well blurred. If this were mine I would do 3 things. First I would crop a small bit off the top,darken the backround a little which would put more emphasis on the frog and take out the whitish leaves on the log. Pleasing image!!

[Paul Lagasi]

Andrew sweet work, the frac filter works well with the patterns on the frog, the duckweed. Nicely composed image.

[Jay Sheinfield]

Great shot. The foreground prominence of the frog and the frac detail work well to separate him from the bright background. I could see Daves suggestion on toning down the green and that white piece, but this does work for me. Also love the detail and coloring in the tree.

[James Shadle]

Andrew,
I like the subtle effect on the frog and stronger effect on the duckweed(?).
The only thing I would suggest is removing the white lichen(?) on the frogs perch.
James

[denise ippolito]

Andrew, Very nice work with the filter. Your frogs are terrific. I might take a sliver off the bottom to clean up the lower edge if it were mine. Nice job!

[Julie Kenward]

Andrew, if you want to leave the white lichen, select it, grab the color from the duckweed and paint over the lichen at 30% opacity and then it should blend in with the rest of the stuff.

Love the effect of the frog and the duckweed in the BG is a very nice textural element. I like how round it is compared to the lines on the frog and tree stump.

[Judy Howle]

I love it just like it is but Julie had a good suggestion for a paint job on the lichen. A sliver off the bottom as Denise suggested might be good to try. I like the colors and tones as they are.

[John Storjohann]

Andrew, this is a great image...I agree with the comment earlier that darkening the background a bit might help give additional separation / emphasis on the frog, and I think darkening the white lichen would help lessen the tendency for the eye to be drawn to them. The graphic impact that Fractalius has on the frog really makes the image stand out; nicely done!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Andrew,
What Julie said! Just toning down the brightest lichen will work for me and put it over the top!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Andrew, I love leopard frogs and the fract work is great. I'd prefer a little off the top but I love it just the way it is

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I appreciate them very much! Here is a repost with the lichen evicted and the background darkened a smidge. I like the darker section in the lower right, but thought it looked out of place with a crop from the bottom so I left that suggestion out of this repost. Thanks again for the suggestions. Hope you like the repost.

[John Storjohann]

Andrew, I love the repost...the darker BG gives an even greater feeling of depth. Nicely done!

[James Shadle]

Repost - sweet!

[Mitch Carucci]

Very soulful frog... Nice image and processing.

[Dave Mills]

Good job on the repost Andrew...very nice!

[Nancy Bell]

Frogs and fractalius seem to be made for each other. Great repost as the frog really "leaps out" from the bkgd. You might consider just a bit of a crop off the top.

[Indranil Sircar]

Excellent composition, Andrew. Love all of your fract on frogs. Wonderful repost.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks a bunch for the additional comments everyone. Much appreciated!