Frogs are back …… finally !
It’s been a long winter and I was happy to see my first frogs this week ! I was able to photograph my first Green Frogs in one of my favorite pond. I hope that this summer will be great and that I will get some great shots !
Close view of a Green Frog. I positioned my camera as close as possible to the water level, in fact I went a little too close and the base of my 7D and the tip of my lens touched the water ….. Oups ! Taken handheld with my 7D and Sigma 180mm/5.6 APO Macro, ISO 800 at f/8, I used the LV to focus since it was impossible for me to see in the Viewfinder.
Weekly photo, 18 October 2014
I went to a small pond where i knew i could found some Green Frogs and sometimes Bullfrogs at this time of the year. In just a small part i found about 6 Green frogs and was able to get the portrait of this one posted here.
Fuji X-E1, Sigma 180mm/5.6 APO Macro, tripod.
Weekly photo, 05 October 2014
I found this adult Green Frog in a shallow pond covered with autumn leaves, always good to photograph Frogs in different seasons.
Taken with Fuji X-E1, XF 55-200mm with a 10mm Extension tube, tripod.
Weekly photo, 22 Jun 2014
This week it’s a photo of a Green Frog in a dark waterhole taken with a 14mm lens.
Taken handheld with my Fuji X-E1 and XF14mm.
Weekly photo, 08 June 2014
Frog season is great, we had good periods of rain, the water level in the small ponds is still high and there is a lot of Mosquitoes as well. This week i tried a more artistic rendering of this Green Frog.
Taken with Fuji X-E1 and 18-55mm, handheld with OIS activated.
Weekly photo, 25 May 2014
Frogs are easier to find now that the temperature is warmer, so this week it’s a photo of a Green Frog. I converted it in B&W because i felt it would look better that way.
Taken with Canon 7D + 400mm/5.6L with Ext. tubes, tripod.
Sometimes Frogs are very cooperative !
Yesterday before going to work i stopped at a local Park where there is some small and bigger ponds with different species of Frogs and Turtles. But it was cold (10C) and there was not many Frogs to be seen, i took some photos of a frog but not very good, after 30 minutes i had to go to work.
Today was another story, the morning was warmer and humid, Frogs were easy to find and i just choosed the ones that were more photogenics and cooperative. However at that place they are more nervous than at another pond i go also for photograpphing Green Frogs, i usually use my 400mm lens with Extension tubes (all the photos posted here were taken with that lens).
I started with this Green Frog, not satisfied because of the OOF branch in the foreground.
Not far away, this one was on the shore probably waiting for something to eat.
Watch your back my little friend, they were 2 on that mossy rock, the other one jumped as soon as i tried to get close. Fortunately this one stayed there. At first i wanted to photograph it from the side but it would have been difficult to get a good shot, so i took it from behind.
This one was very well camouflaged amongst the dead dark leaves, i liked the reflection in the water which adds to the photo.
Just as i was walking back to my Truck, i saw another Green Frog on the shore on moss covered rocks.
It’s a beautiful Park for photographing Frogs because of the different ponds setting, some are surrounded with Cattails and like the photos posted here where i concentrated myself on the series of small and shallow ponds.
Again after 30 minutes i needed to leave and go to work, will try to go again tomorrow morning and see if i will get lucky!
Weekly photo, 11 May 2014
This week i finally photographed some Frogs, it was about time ! Not many Frogs yet, in one of my regular pond i found only 3 Green Frogs that morning but i managed to get a couple of good shots.
I was at water’s level to get that view, the tip of the lens hood was in the water. Canon 7D with Tamron 90mm Macro VC handheld.
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.
Canon 70-300mm IS, my impressions.
I wanted a telephoto zoom lens to go along my 400mm/5.6 L and 7D. I didn’t want to spend too much because my goal is to buy a 70-300mm IS L or wait to see if Pentax would come out with the 135-400mm WR that was on the roadmap. It’s a lens that will be used in vacation or when i don’t need or want to carry my 400mm lens. I read many reviews and user opinions before i finally bought one when a store here in Canada was selling brand new ones for 420$ . I could also have bought the 70-200mm/4 L as it was 600$ (i already own a TC-1.4XII), but i wanted to have a lens with IS.
The built quality is cheaper than my 400mm/5.6L and all my Pentax lenses (i don’t own cheap lenses for my Pentax cameras). I was aware of this before buying it, so not a problem. The focusing ring is not the best i’ve used and MF with LV is manageable at best.
Male Green Frog in the morning light.
Canon 7D with 70-300mm IS, 21mm Ext. tube, at 300mm, ISO 250, 1/320 sec. at f/11, tripod.
100% crop of the shot above with PP in Photoshop and sharpening applied (amount around 95 and radius at 1). You can see some CA in the highlights.
One of the reason i bought that lens was to photograph frogs which would need the use of Extension tubes on some occasions. At 300mm with extension tubes the sharpness is quite good , not as good as a Macro lens but good enough for publishing photos in a magazine. At shorter focal length the IQ is quite good, but with extension tubes and zoomed out from 200mm to 300mm the set-up is not very rigid and is prone to vibration so you need a solid tripod, i also use LV to focus and 2 second delay with a remote release.
7D with 70-300mm IS with 65mm of Ext. tubes, at 190mm, ISO 320, at f/10, tripod, remote release.
I’m lucky to have a young Cottontail Rabbit that likes to live in my backyard and he have a favorite spot just in front of a black spruce where it’s well hidden from predators. He’s now quite accustomed to see us in the backyard and i can get close to him with my camera and he even sleep when i’m close to him!
Here it is looking at me, below are crops from that shot, i was also trying Spot AF.
Canon 7D, at 300mm, 1/250 sec. at f/6.3, ISO 800, tripod, RAW.
Zoomed to 100% with no PP and no NR.
With some PP, sharpening in PS7 (Amount 89, Radius 1.0).
From what i’ve shot with that lens up to now it reflects what i’ve read on some reviews and user reviews, it’s quite good up to 200mm when stopped down 1 stop, at 300mm IQ drops but by stopping down to f/7.1 IQ is relatively good, not up to a prime lens.
This shot was taken near the minimum focusing distance of the lens using LV at 10X magnification.
7D with 70-300mm IS at 170mm, ISO 500, 1/25 sec. at f/6.3, tripod and Polariser filter.
This is a 100% crop of the previous shot.
A shot taken at “normal” distance, more standard use of the lens.
7D, lens set at 90mm, ISO 100, 1/50 sec. at f/10, tripod.
Sure it’s not as sharp as a prime lens at longer focal lengths but when stopped down it can produce very good photos until i can buy the 70-300mm IS L ! I’m now getting to know that lens and use it more often for photographing frogs and it’s doing very well. For the price i paid it’s a good value even if the built quality could be better especially the focusing ring that could have a better feeling. I wish that Canon would give at least the lens hood with their lenses like Pentax do.
Pentax DA14mm/2.8 for close-up photography
The Pentax DA14mm is the 14mm lens that have the closest minimum focusing distance on the market (correct me if i’m wrong). It’s a great lens to show a flower, mushroom or a frog in it’s environment by getting close and frame your subject with a background that will enhance it. It takes some practice to get the most out of that lens at close range, the lens hood can nearly touch your subject at the minimum focusing distance and also cast shadows. When i’m photographing that close i now remove the lens hood, especially when photographing frogs.
With the Shake Reduction of my K20D i can handheld that combo to take photos of subjects close to the ground or in situation when it’s hard to position a tripod. In some occasions i was holding my camera in one hand trying to photograph a frog while keeping my balance on the shore of the pond, the frog was certainly laughing at me !
The image quality of that lens is very good but the corners are not as good, so don’t put important elements in the extreme corners of the frame. The only thing i wish is that Pentax would update it as a WR lens !
This photo of a Green Frog was taken on a sunny morning on a small pond, the frog was lit by the sun and the contrast was too high with the surrounding vegetation for my taste. I took off my shirt and hang it up on some cattails to shade my subject and it’s environment.
Taken with a Pentax K20D, ISO 800, 1/25 sec. at f/10 handheld with SR activated.
When i found this Stemless Lady’s-Slipper (white specimen, habitually they are pink) i knew i wanted to show that beautiful flower in it’s environment, so i choose my DA14mm for the shot. I was lying on my stomach on the ground and use the help of SR to steady the camera.
Taken with a Pentax K20D, ISO 500, 1/10 sec. at f/9 handheld with SR activated.
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