Only about an inch long, this small wood frog stopped long enough for me to take a few pictures. It was just after some heavy rain that turned the fallen leaves very dark and I think the frog also got darker to match. It’s not often I see these guys in the woods so it was a treat. It was an overcast day with full tree canopy so pretty dim down on the forest floor.
Specific Feedback Requested
It is what it is, but I’ve done my best in post to make it pleasing. In the scene I could move some grass out of the way to shoot, but didn’t want to push my luck and make it spring away.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Tripod set all the way down.
Lr processed for a rather large crop, some rotation and white balance adjustment. Texture and clarity along with bringing the greens down so they wouldn’t overwhelm. Brush work on the frog itself to bring up the exposure. Sharpening & a little nr.
Kris, what a cutie you captured here. I am good with the grass, he looks like he is in his habitat. I think sometimes as photographers we want the studio quality, but we are shooting in nature, and have take what nature offers us. The rain drops on him is a nice bonus. I love the green grass with the browns of the old leaves and the cute frog. Well done.
Must agree with the previous posters. You have done a nice job with a cute fellow. Excellent details in the frogs skin etc and the wetness in the scene adds to it. He/She really is in the right environment.
The undergrowth is not that nice a place to photograph in and the only way I have found to make it more “photogenic” is to be parallel to the ground and “tripod all the way down” suggests that’s what your trying so good work. You might get more subject isolation if the grass wasn’t there, but I have a feeling the frog wouldn’t be there in the first place without it and it gives a nice sense of scale on how small the frog is.
I agree with all the positive comments above - except that maybe that blade of grass running more or less parallel to its head could be cloned/brushed out. If I were the frog I’d want to shake it off!
Chris, this is a nice look at this little frog in it’s environment. The mix of moss and grass is good. The contrast does seem high given the lighting conditions and that contrast is hiding the dark area under/behind it’s eye, which is a major ID characteristic for this frog.
Hm…I didn’t think the contrast was an issue. It was very wet and pretty contrasty, but I reduced it in Lr and added another shot in the OP.
I think the grass near the frog’s head is just behind it and not actually touching it, but I just can’t deal with fiddly processing right now so I’m not going to try to clone it out. Maybe when I’m more attuned to the intricacies of it I’ll give it a go.
The forest floor is a messy place for sure. I clean up or garden when possible, but sometimes there’s only so much you can do. Many of my images are more documentarian in style than artistic and too much clean up or perfection doesn’t always convey what I want to with an image.
