At a nature preserve I used to live near they have a frog pond. This frog was right near the walkway at the edge of the pond. He sat there looking up at me ‘smiling’ for quite some time letting me get multiple shots and getting close. He was a very patient model!
Specific Feedback Requested
I cropped it to take a bit of the concrete out. Also I was having a very hard time to get the nose sharp along with the eyes. This was the best I could do.
Any feedback is always appreciated!
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D3400
ISO 800
300mm
f/6.3
1/640
Crop
Vanessa, he sure is smiling for you! I’m so glad he was so will to pose so well for you. Your ISO was only at 800, so most digital cameras will let you go a bit higher without too much noise, and even then you can use some noise reduction software to remove some of the noise, so my thinking is, you could probably have bumped it up a bit, and maybe dropped the shutter a little since he was pretty inactive. That would have given you the ability to have gone up in your shutter speed number to maybe f11, and got the nose sharper. Just a thought for if you are ever in a similar situation. Still, you have the eyes sharp, and that is the most critical. Love all the green.
A fine image of the frog, Vanessa. I’d echo Shirley’s comment. People who regularly shoot this kind of stuff (Like butterflies) usually end up with an external flash with some kind of diffuser on it so they can get lots of light and use a smaller aperture which helps a great deal with getting adequate depth of field without using a tripod. In this case, you probably could have used a tripod and gone quite low in your shutter speed to increase the depth of field. Flashes can be pretty expensive, but there are a lot of after market ones that are really pretty good. You can also usually find good deals on used ones. I know Canon updated all their flash models a few years ago and the older models are readily available at good prices. I suspect Nikon is quite similar.
Shirley didn’t mention it, but there’s really no reason this can’t be in the general Macro forum. Sanctuaries are where we find critters these days and I’ve never hesitated to post frogs or birds from my backyard ponds in the more general forums.
That is a happy-looking little croaker. I echo the comments above and suggest a tad of exposure in this one. Maybe lift the mid tones as well. A terrific portrait.
Thanks! Yeah, I should have had a smaller aperture. And the more I’m doing this I am able to do a slower shutter handheld. I hope I will have a similar scenario one day! Thanks for your input!
Thanks! So would I have to hold the flash in one hand with my camera in the other or would I mount the flash on top? I don’t have a tripod but I am getting better at handheld with slow shutter.
I wasn’t sure where to put the frog. So would that go for reptiles too, would I put them in macro/close up?
Thanks for your help!
Thanks Kristen! I think I tend to underexpose a lot! I’m too afraid of noise! But I realize too that I‘ll get noise anyway if I have to adjust it too much in post-process as well!
Hi Vanessa. Reptiles and amphibians are usually spread between Wildlife and Macro depending on their size. It would be tough to call a crocodile a macro image.
You can mount a flash on the camera or hold it separately which is hard. To get more separation, you can buy or make an arm that attaches to the camera and the flash to get it further away. For really serious macro work, if you get into it, there are ring flashes and twin flashes designed specifically for macro work.
I like this photo very much, Vanessa, especially how it is framed by green weed. I take a lot of Macros and as they are usually of butterflies, I nearly always have to hand hold. That way I can move the camera around quickly to (hopefully) get the insect’s wings parallel to what i think is called the focal plane of the sensor in the camera, in other words try to get all of both wings in focus. And, as said, a smaller aperture helps when this is not possible, as with chunky frogs. I think you’ve achieved excellent focus at f6.3!
Thanks Mike! I’m glad you like the frog! I know what you mean about having to move around! I don’t have a tripod for that reason, I just always want my camera to be free for whatever comes along!
If you’re worried about noise, don’t underexpose! If you bring it up in post you’ll reveal noise. Overexpose as far as you can without blowing out highlights and the reduce exposure in post. That will give less noise.
