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N. Pacific tree frog
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N. Pacific tree frog

by Jeff Lewis

Gallery: Macro & Close-upPosted June 6, 201359 views9 comments
I took this in 2008 in a bush in my front yard, with a D200, shooting jpeg. It's always been one of my favorites, primarily because of the color, so I'm revisiting it with LR4 for PP, to see how nice I can get it with my new skills. And now that I'm seeing more with "NPN eyes" I'm surprised I never noticed the leaf growing out of its nose. So one question is - does the leaf in front distract too much? Also didn't really notice that I missed getting 1/2 a toe pad into the frame at the bottom. Also, is the crop too tight? I was trying to minimize distracting elements on all sides.

D200, Nikon 60mm macro, f/11, 1/500, ISO 400, HH, 65% of FF
LR4 with usual exposure, temp, sharpen adjustments, plus a little NR.
Cloned/healed some hot pixels, and a couple small spots.

Thanks.

Comments

9 comments
Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on June 6, 2013 at 9:05 PM
Clone out the leaf, drop the lower crop to include the toe pad, and you have yourself a winner. It would be even better if there were more room. A small couple of nits on an otherwise good presentation.
Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments
Comment posted by scott lanz on June 6, 2013 at 9:17 PM
Hi Jeff. I can see why this is one of your favorites. I like the eye level perspective and the detail, and I am amazed how close you got, and the magnification you achieved, with a 60mm lens.Impressive. Yes, if I had my druthers, I would prefer a bit more room at least at the bottom and in front of the frog. As for the leaf, I am not sure that I did or would have noticed the leaf until I read your comment. The leaf sort of blends in with the background, so I don't think it's a major issue. On the other hand, cloning it out should not be too difficult. Thanks for sharing.
Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments
Comment posted by Jeff Lewis on June 7, 2013 at 1:03 AM
Phil, unfortunately I cut the toe off in the initial capture, I only cropped left, right and top. Here's the full frame for reference for any cropping advice. I cropped from the front to deemphasize the leaf and from the back because of the whitish blotch which was the OOF roof of a house across the street, then from the top for balance, but I'm just making all that up so any advice/opinion on it would be great.

Scott - your comment about getting close brings up another question for me I hadn't actually thought about with respect to this picture. While not set up or posed, it's a frog outside my front door that my kids were chasing around in our bushes, that I took a picture of during the course of that when it ended up in nice light. It's very possible I got as close as I did because I wasn't actively trying to net it with a little green net at that moment. It seems like some sort of disclaimer would probably be appropriate for a shot like this of a "fussed" subject. Or perhaps just not posted at all - what do you think?
Registered on January 29, 2013, 9 Posts, 89 Comments
Comment posted by scott lanz on June 7, 2013 at 11:52 AM
Jeff, I have no problem with posting the image, and I don't think any disclaimer was needed based on your description. That's a personal thing, of course. I would disclose if it was an actual set up shot and/or used a captive subject, even one captive only temporarily. This one was not "captive," but only chased by your kids. Maybe that's a fine line.

Having seen the repost, I would be inclined to clone from the top and back (right) as you did in the original post, but not from the front (left), and I would clone out the small leaf, leaving the larger leaf as is. However, I think your original works as well.
Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments
Comment posted by Jeff Lewis on June 7, 2013 at 2:57 PM
Thanks so much for the follow-up Scott. I've been playing with the clone in PS5 and clearly my skills are poor, particularly with something like this that has multiple edges impacting other items, but I'll hopefully put up another repost soon with the clone and crop you're recommending. If I get really ambitious maybe I'll try to "add canvas" and give him another half toe :)
Registered on January 29, 2013, 9 Posts, 89 Comments
Comment posted by Jeff Lewis on June 7, 2013 at 9:02 PM
Okay, here's a clone attempt. Also slightly more on top and in front, but I couldn't do a good job cloning out the small leaf where it runs into the big one, plus it looked a little odd to me with all that room in front, so I stayed with a crop in front, but without the little leaf. thanks for the comments.
Registered on January 29, 2013, 9 Posts, 89 Comments
Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on June 8, 2013 at 7:45 PM
Looks good to me, Jeff! As you make progress, cloning will become easier. The secret for me has just been practice. I called it play, which helped. :biggrin:
Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments
Comment posted by Roger Kirchen on June 9, 2013 at 12:07 AM
Jeff, I like it better without the leaves. Nicely done.
Registered on March 6, 2011, 95 Posts, 847 Comments
Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on June 17, 2013 at 2:35 AM
Very good capture, Jeff, and nicely accomplished cloning in the repost. It's fun watching your skills advance and be applied to your photography. You're asking good questions, too, which helps the NPN group to give you targeted advice. Good going!
Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments