Toad in creek

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Taken with Pentax ZX-5n, 100mm/f2.8 macro lens, handheld, exposure not recorded. Day was overcast, rocks really were pink. Any comments?

-- John Sullivan (sullivan@spies.com), January 25, 1999

Answers

Hi John,

Ah yes, a nice portrait of an animal in its environment. I like that. A couple of suggestions that might (depending on your taste) improve this shot would be to have:

(1) Used a polarizer to get rid of the glare. This would have helped make those really pink rocks REALLY pink. It would also drop the contrast a bit between the little guy and the wet rocks. (To me, that would be good.) (2) Increased the depth of field to get more of the surroundings in focus. This, of course, might have required the use of a tripod and a trained toad (STAY!) while you set up.

I really do like the sharpness you got of most of the toads back and perhaps my imagination is getting the better of me, but it looks like he is almost sticking out his tongue.

Regards,

-- Jim Harrison (hphoto@earthlink.net), January 26, 1999.


John, I agree with Jim, more depth of field would be nice. And, if the rocks were not quite so bright it would help my eye to focus in on the toad. I imagine it was quite a challenge to even get a shot of this little guy.

-- Barbara Kelly (kellys@alaska.net), January 27, 1999.

Thanks for the comments, Jim and Barbara! I think this is about the best I could do depth-of-field-wise without a tripod, which I didn't have with me at the time. Next time I go toad-spotting I'll bring one though. And I need to remember to consider my polarizer whenever I've got water in the subject. Your comments are very helpful.

-- John Sullivan (sullivan@spies.com), January 27, 1999.

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