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.
My gear for the 2015 Frog season.
I just switched back to Pentax just in time for the 2015 frog season, i carefully selected my lenses to be useful for photographing frogs. I bought lenses that have a good minimum focusing distance or repro ratio so that i can use them to take the portrait of my little friends.
Here is my Pentax lenses which will be useful on my tripod but also handheld with the help of the SR:
– DA 16-85mm WR for bigger frogs that will let me close enough to use that lens to show them in their habitat kind of shot.
– DA 55-300mm WR that i will use mostly from 100mm to 300mm.
– Tamron 90mm Macro will be my main working lens especially for the Gray Tree frog and Spring peeper frog but also to take close-up shots of the bigger ones.
– Takumar (6×7) 135mm/4 Macro, this lens have a 1:3 ratio on a 6×7 camera and will give me more rech than my Tamron 90mm Macro.
I still have my Canon 7D and will be able to use my 400mm/5.6L with and without extension tubes when frogs will be out of reach of my Pentax DA 55-300mm WR. Also i have a Sigma 180mm/5.6 APO Macro that have a 1:2 repro ratio that i will use on my 7D for more reach but still can do Macro shots.
I’m excited at the coming season that should start in a few days, i will be trying to vary my POV and came-up with different perspective and atmosphere. I will also explore new ponds this summer so that will help vary the environment in my photos.
Here are teaser photos from last year to give you an idea of the coming season 🙂
Young Spring peeper frog.
Green Frog.
Young Gray Tree frog with part of it’s tail still present.
Weekly photo, 16 November 2014
Finally we had some colder days this week, i was waiting anxiously for below 0°C temperatures for more opportunities, especially frozen waterholes and ponds. I like photographing leaves caught in ice, it’s a subject that you can find easily. This week photo was taken at a pond, what attracted me was the contrast between the pale leaves and dark water and ice. The 2 water drops were frozen on the leaves which added some interest.
Taken with my Fuji X-E1 and Sigma 180mm/5.6 APO Macro, at f/13, tripod.
Weekly photo, 02 November 2014
This week i found a new pond area which is along a dirt road along the highway close to my work. I’ve already went on that dirt road often but never walked the small trail that start somewhere along that road. I think i will certainly go next spring to photograph frogs, looks like a great habitat for Gray Tree Frog and Spring Peepers !
You’re lucky, you can’t smell the odor of rotten eggs that was in the air that morning, ponds often smell that.
Fuji X-E1 with XF 18-55mm, polarizer and tripod.
Gray Tree Frogs are out of the pond.
I was waiting for that moment with excitement, it’s the first time of the year that i went to the pond where there is a lot of Gray Tree Frogs, they are my favorite Frog that live here in my corner of the country (Canada). At this time of the year i’m looking for the young ones that just got out of the water, some still have a small tail. I have a favorite pond where i go every summer, it’s a Beaver’s pond, many species turns from tadpoles to juvenile Frogs at the same time (American Toad, Gray Tree Frog, Spring Peeper Frog and Leopard Frog).
Those little fellows are quite small, about the size of my thumbnail, so a Macro lens is the best way to go and i would add that a lens with IS, VC, VR or a camera with IBIS is a bonus that help a lot since i often handheld my gear. They are often hiding on plants where it’s difficult to get a good view and a tripod is not always practical.
The King of the pond ! You can see the remaining of it’s tail.
Just to give you an idea of how many Gray tree Frogs there is on the shore of that pond, i was standing among the vegetation and i was counting at least 30 Frogs around me hiding on the plants, i even saw 13 of them on a single plant. Sure i have a lot of subjects to choose from but often the background is busy so i have to find a Frog where the background is more interesting or less busy. With the combination of early morning, handholding the camera, wind and the need to blur the background i often end-up shooting from f/4.5 to f/5.6.
I found this one hiding in a Pine, i was able to use my tripod and close my lens to a smaller aperture to have more DOF.
The Spring Peeper Frogs juveniles are even smaller, some are the size of a fingernail. This one was walking on a leaf, i only got 4 frames before he jumped on another leaf.
All the photos i posted here were taken on the same morning, when i arrived at the pond it was raining, a perfect situation for photographing Frogs. I used my Canon 7D and Tamron 90mm Macro VC either handheld or on a tripod. Hope you like them 🙂
Family portrait !
Last Week-end i was lucky to be able to photograph a cooperative Canada Geese family. Around here they tend to be nervous and difficult to get close to, but at that pond there are a lot of peoples going there for fishing and walking, so they are easier to photograph.
Nice family portrait, the young geese are so cute, they came very close to me after that shot. Canon 7D with 400mm/5.6 L.
The little geese up-close. Canon 7D with 400mm/5.6 L.
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!
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.
steevemarcoux2 