Tom Robbins
June 17th, 2007, 04:01 PM
This little bullfrog was trying to hide under a shelf of rock near the edge of a pool at the head of Illinois Canyon of Starved Rock in Illinois. Frogs are OK with movement as long as it is very slow.
Shot as wide open as possible using available light with Canon 5D, 180mm macro, 2x extender, plus 25mm extension.
http://www.pbase.com/salty_one/image/80688900.jpg
Asher Kelman
June 17th, 2007, 04:24 PM
Hi Tom,
That is one moist frog! Wonder whether he could get life insurance if there are herons around? The 2X extender is just the standard Canon extender, not the Macro life size extender that goes with the 50mm Macro?
Is the extender allowing auto focus? Although you probably focus manually!
All hand held or tripod with rail, prbably not!
As for the composition. Are you locked into this vertical framing or else what do you think of trying it square?
Anyway, I love the frog :)
What distance is the frog from you? Could one do a series of focus bracketting and then stack the shots as this frog probably stays quite still? I'd love to see more detail in the water surface.
Asher
Tom Robbins
June 18th, 2007, 05:21 AM
Hi Asher,
The 2x extender is the standard Canon extender (teleconverter). I don't think I've ever focused manually with the 180mm macro lens, but when using it plus extender and 25mm extension tube with the 5D, I'm sure AF would not function.
I used a tripod while sort of sloshing through shallow water and mud. I don't have a macro rail, but probably will if I finally get around to picking up an MP-E65mm macro. The combination of stuff with the 180mm is a stop-gap until I make up my mind about this macro lens. I'm not totally convinced the extreme magnification of the MP-E65 is worth the extra weight and loss of flexibility while hiking in the woods.
As for composition, I picked the vertical because the frog was hiding, and I knew if it became any more startled than it was, it would have leaped into the water. The open water in the foreground was its escape route, and it seemed an important element at the time. The water itself was fairly muddy, so I don't know if increased dof would have revealed any detail worth the effort.
Interesting question about focus bracketting. There's a software application that does this, but haven't had time to explore.
Tom