I caught this guy climbing up the side of a Palm tree in my backyard the other day. He was really big, as you can tell by the Palm tree trunk. It's amazing how they can cling to surfaces with their webbed feet.The Bullfrog is the largest native American frog reaching lengths of 8 inches. They're found throughout central Florida in ponds, lakes and slow-moving streams. They eat young birds, snakes, crayfish and other frogs. That may explain why he was climbing up this tree.
The jpg compression has taken away the greenish tinge across his lower body. He's a lot more colorful than he looks in this shot. I wish I could post the full resolution image.
Settings used for this photo were at ISO 200, with my on camera flash (he was in a dark spot between 3 other trees) at 1/250 which is the shutter speed I set my flash to fire, F5.6 and +2 exposure compensation to be sure to get all the shadow detail, partial metering on the frog in aperture priority mode. I used my 50-250mm lens at 250mm so I wouldn't scare him away.
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8 comments:
Looks like what you've got there is a Cuban tree frog, an invasive, non-native species. It grows up to 5 inches in length and will eat anything it can fit in it's mouth that moves including native species of frogs. They are considered to be a pest because they threaten the biodiversity of native tree frog populations.
I thought Cuban Tree Frogs were much smaller. I stand corrected. Thanks for the information. Between the two of us, we're both going to learn a whole lot about nature. :)
Amazing how the colors of the frog blend right in with the tree bark. You have wonderful nature shots on your blog. I've enjoyed looking at them. Hi from freezing California!
Hah, I think I learn 10 things from you for every nugget I'm able to put forth.
I've had a small pond on my front porch for years and it used to be populated with green tree frogs and leopard frogs. The Cuban tree frogs moved in a while back and drove out / ate them all. The biggest one out there is the size of my fist and my wife is scared of them.
Hi Linnea, thank you for your nice comment. You must be from northern CA if you're freezing. :)
Jim, I think we pretty much lean a lot from one another. You've taught me so much about photography and you've challenged me to work harder to achieve my potential.
A lot of compositional and lighting technique I've learned comes from looking at your beautiful photography and either trying to do something similar (not copying the photo, but the technique)or asking you how to do it. You've always been very helpful and believe me, it's much appreciated. I can see the growth since I've known you.
Hi Loyce,
Stumbled across your blog, and enjoy your work. I agree about your mixed feelings with HDR. Some that don't scream HDR I just love, and others I don't like at all! I particularly enjoyed your frog post since I recently posted photos of the most beautiful frog I've every seen from a recent trip to Costa Rica. (Doesn't seem right to use beautiful & frog in the same sentence, but it's true!!)
Thank you, Karen. I'll have to check out your frog.
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