Frogs - the whole gang

[Not Too Shabby]

This was a shot i took last weekend when i went for a walk around Mt Cootha Botanical gardens, they have a few ponds with water plants in them, i started snapping away at the flowers when i noticed a little frog on a lilly pad, on closer inspection of the plants i found these little guys all huddled together on one plant. It was out a little way in the pond so i just layed over the edge as close as i could and took a few pictures this one turned out the best i think, i cropped it and did a little mucking around with this one in picasa (i'm only new to post processing).

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nottooshabby/2268136331/" title="The Gang by not too shabby, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2156/2268136331_bc6e8162af.jpg" width="302" height="500" alt="The Gang" /></a>

Here's the link to the original http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2041/2268907934_e12aee883a.jpg

I like the shot with all the frogs (i haven't seen that many at once ever!!!!) but i think i might have blown it out a bit too much any suggestions?? Cheers :)


Exif - Camera: Canon EOS 400D Digital
Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 60 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Please feel free to edit and repost only on DPS

[mhusiak]

Upon first flance, I thought that this photo was staged, maybe with toy frogs. Then, I read what you wrote, and was pretty amazed that the little guys were real. I looked at your original, and prefer the cropped version much more. The subject seems more apparent after it is cropped than before. Next time I would try to frame the subject the same way you did while cropping, but while you are composing the photo. It will give you insight as to what you want the subject of the image to be and help you reach the final image you want much more quickly.

I also use Picasa, but mainly for organizing my photos and emailing them. I've never tried it for any sort of post production. The only other thing I would try in post would be making the green of the frogs pop a little more in contrast to the brown on the stems they are sitting on. If Picasa isn't advanced enough to do that, download the trial version of Photoshop from Adobe.com and read a few tutorials on editing colour.

Overall, the cropped version is very effective.

Mike.

[kimspics]

I like what you have done. I also use picasa but am going to get the "big daddy photoshop as soon as I receive my gift from Uncle Sam. I downloaded Gimp but have no clue and my patience tends to run out before I actually learn what to do with it!!!! I love frogs- wonderful pic......:):)

[peeperita]

fun capture......i probably would have stretched out on the edhe to photograph these little guys too......no matter what the world thought of me....:)

i do think you went a little heavy on the post work.......i don't know much about picasa.....but, i would consider a re-edit, focusing more on lighting the frogs separately from the background.......does picasa allow for layers?

peeper

[islandseas]

I love these little guys. I work right next to a field with a catchment pond. I spend most coffee breaks out there shooting them. Great job.

Karen

[Not Too Shabby]

Hi All,

Thanks for the feedback :)

"mhusiak/peeperita" picasa doesn't have great abilities to post process you can muck around with fill lights, highlights, shadows and colour temperatures but unfortunatley can't do individual colour layers. Just very basic stuff i have got photoshop and i installed it but it was just way to overwhelming (i know how you feel "kimspics") so i just downloaded picasa for now just to crop mainly and in a few weeks time i have a friend that said she would show me the basics of photoshop. So i might attempt to have another go at PPing this pic once i get a grip on photoshop.

"mhusiak" if i could of got closer to frame better i would have but i really didn't want to take the risk around water with my gear, as it was i was on my stomach, with the majority of my torso over the water i would of had to go for a swim if i wanted to get any closer and i just wasn't prepared for it. But with that said it's not to far back to the botanical gardens to get a few more photos of them a bit more prepared this time :)

Thanks again for the great feedback and i'll repost when i get to know photoshop and touch it up.

Cheers Ben

[MeanJoeGreen]

ohh wow im a true beginner and i know my word means nothing, but OMG that is a really kewl photo. I think it's really nice and it's composed relatively well(with little experience of my own).

[Not Too Shabby]

Thanks "MeanJoeGreen" :)

[bsq2phat]

cool photo. my only quip would be that the white area seems a bit too bright (it hurts my eyes a bit) but me i'm not a fan of bright stuff so it could just be a personal preference.

other than that its a cool capture. hehe, if i saw frogs i'd be running a million miles away not taking photos of them thats for sure. i'm a city girl and slimy nature stuff doesn't really appeal to me :cool:

[Not Too Shabby]

Thanks "bsq2phat", yeah i feel it's a little bright/harsh in the middle, i'm only using picasa at the moment (i'm new to PP and photography in general) so when i learn photoshop i'm going to have another go at touching it up.

And the frogs they're not really slimmy, i used to play with them heaps as a kid where i grew up it was a bit low lying and kind of bush but in town and there were heaps of these around but much bigger.

Cheers for the comments :)

[Rislone]

Hope you don't mind, but I took a shot at some post processing for you and adjusted just a few things. Mainly because I wanted to see how badly the shot was affected by the blown out middle. But on the plus side this was a great shot that actually required very little in cleanup :)

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r228/Cmdrkeen123/frogs.jpg

[Not Too Shabby]

"Rislone" thanks i like the way you offset the frogs to the left and not cropped them so close, the colours look very similar to the original, did you do anything to the colours apart from tone the harsh light in the center down? What program did you use?? At the time i was so worried about getting a photo of the frogs, now i think of it i should have put my polarising filter on, that would of cut down on the glare, there's always something you should have done hey :) as i don't really do alot of PP i try to get the picture i want there and then, and just do a little cropping on picasa thats about it. so thanks for the positive comments and help :)

[Rislone]

there's always something you should have done hey as i don't really do alot of PP i try to get the picture i want there and then,

That's the way to do it really. The less PP you have to do the better. As for the frogs I used the eyedropper on the main frogs nose to select the color and brought the saturation up to around 17-22 (In the final I believe it was only 17) The levels were already good to begin with, so I only made a very small adjustement.