this is probably my best frog pic of the year so far....
...i did a quick post process job on it....i need to redo it and take my time and lessen or eliminate the excessive glistening on his nose and elsewhere on his face. if i can do that, this one is a keeper and hopefully i find many more opportunities like this one. i was out last night with only a flashlight and saw this gladiator frog sitting up in the emerging, curled leaf of a calathea near the lagoon...i ran back in for the camera expecting him to be gone when i got back out, but surprisingly he was in the same exact position. sometimes you get lucky.
= new reply since forum marked as read
.....i got a lucky shot of a similar looking falconidae bird, a yellow headed caracara, also just dumb luck.....i happened to glance out my window and saw a figure a bit obscured by the foliage of the tree it was in....i went outside and got a clean view of the caracara sitting about 5 meters from me with nothing behind it but open sky....i ran back in for the nikon with the 500mm and the bird was in the same spot when i got back out.....i cranked off 2 or 3 shots before it took off. to be honest, anytime i get a good shot, it's luck.
note: with all that open sky behind it, had i been using the default metering mode (which i never use) the bird would have been so under-exposed it would have been reduced to a silhouette. unless i set it up completely manual for flash photography, my camera is always set to spot meter the scene, and the spot that it takes the reading of light from is the single point AF point, which is always (as best as my shaky hands allow) over the eye of my subject. the only thing i let the camera choose is the ISO. depending on the darkness or brightness of the eye and the darkness or brightness of the area around the eye, i dial in + or - exposure compensation....luckily i had been shooting squirrel monkeys previously, and the setting worked great in this instance.
Yup, definitely a keeper! I see what you mean by reflections but I'm sure you'll be able to eliminate them.
Great job!
from the look on his face he know how photogenic he is .. great shot!
Congrats!
I'm wondering what is the size of the frog? Also wondering with such a dark background how did the two of you end up in space?
I've probably viewed most of the frog pics you've posted here this year, and this one is the standout. Most who view this won't be distracted by the glistening. I see the check mark on the nose and can't stop seeing it. But I'm looking at it as I would one of my own. I don't have the tools to fix such flaws flawlessly.
The photo has great emotional appeal as is. It's hard not to personify the frog! You need to redo this photo. But I think a lot of people are going to like it without any modifications.
I just checked your responses. Sixty nine recs in less than two hours!
You gotta give me some breathing room, man. I posted a truckload of photos tonight--some of them are pretty good too!
great picture!