Sometimes you realize during the processing that you got a good shot !
I just bought a used Canon 70-200mm/4 L and wanted to test it out in the field to see if everything was working as it should and the that the IQ was what it’s supposed to be. I was taking some boring photos of a bridge as a test target, then I decided to walk along the shore of the lake. Directly on the edge of the water I saw a Big Male Bullfrog, I set-up my tripod and took some shots without much hope that it would make a good photo. When I got home later that day I opened the photos and did my regular processing but the photo was not that interesting.
Then I tried it in B&W to see how it would look, it turned out to be a better shot, by eliminating the color the pattern of the weeds surrounding the frog was put in evidence as well as the water and also the texture of the skin on the back of the Bullfrog. Sometimes I know when I took a shot in the field that I will do a B&W conversion but other times I realize during the PP that a B&W conversion is what a photo needed to really come to life.
Taken with my Canon 7D and 70-200mm/4 L at 200mm, f/7.1, tripod.
Weekly photo, 16 May 2015
This morning I went to a local pond where there is many adult Bullfrogs at close range. Some are more tolerant than others, I just need to find a Bullfrog in a beautiful setting and that will let me close. What I liked about this adult male American Bullfrog was the moss on the shore and the perfect reflection.
Taken with my Canon 7D and 400mm/5.6 L, I pushed my tripod as far as I could in the pond to have a water level point of view.
Weekly photo, 09 May 2015
This morning I went to one of my favorite place for photographing Green Frogs and Bullfrogs. It’s a local Parc with several ponds from small to big, it’s a Frog paradise and photographer paradise 🙂
To get that low view of this Bullfrog I positioned my tripod in the water until I got the framing I wanted.
Taken with Canon 7D and 400mm/5.6 L, tripod.
P.O.V. when photographing Frogs.
When i’m photographing Frogs i always try to have the best point of view (POV) to show them at their best, it’s not always easy since they are small, so you need to get low and be ready to get dirty. The lower to their level you can get the best they will look on your final shot. Another benefit is that usually the background will look better when shooting low, that is if the background behind the from is not too distracting and select an aperture that will blur it.
Here is an example i took this morning, same Green Frog, both taken with 7D and Tamron 90mm Macro VC at f/5.6:
For this one i was on my knees and looking through the VF to compose the shot.
I switched to LV and put the camera as close to the ground as i could and tried to compose the best i could without falling into the pond !
I prefer the second photo because the Frog look better because the POV give it more pride. I nearly fell into the pond to get that second shot, the shore was steep and muddy and when i tried to get up my boots were just slipping on that muddy terrain ! As i was fighting to get up the slope the Frog never moved, it was probably waiting to see if i would fell into the pond to have a good laugh at me 🙂
For this photo of a young Bullfrog it was a different story, it was on a Moss covered branch at a good distance from me. The challenge here was to position my tripod mounted camera with a 400mm and 64mm of Extension tubes in a pile of branches to get the view i wanted. I would have liked to get lower to clear the branch in the background but i couldn’t get low enough and still get a good view, so i set the lens W/O at f/5.6 to blur the background as much as i could and did some burning in PP.
Those photos were all taken this morning at a local pond, it’s a great place to photograph different species of Frogs in a beautiful habitat and also Snapping Turtles. It offers a variety of backgrounds and mossy rocks and branches, i just need to look around and find the forg with a better surrounding that will make a great shot and reminds to get low.
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