Waiting For A Kiss
...or 'The Frog That Didn't Move'...
When taking photos of animals you usually need to be quick... you can't tell them to pose, nor move them or turn them into the better light... with this photo that all changed...
It's a 32 seconds exposure of a frog that sat absolutely frozen for minutes... you can tell by the fact the photo is razor sharp (notice the sort of hair stuck to its cheek)... with a 32 seconds exposure the slightest movement would have spoiled the photo... you can see it was breathing by the vague patch under its mouth (that was the only part of its body that moved, but I concluded that only later, it was too dark to see it on the live frog)...
After I had taken the right shot (laying flat on my tummy on the wood of a pier, trying to get the frog in focus - LiveView on a Leica M9 would be a blessing) it still didn't budge, despite the fact I was busy with this photo for at least 5 minutes, shoving the camera closer and closer into its face... then we started to wonder if it wasn't dead (which seemed weird, seeing its pose, but not completely illogical, seeing its frozen attitude in the tropical 26 or so degrees Celsius, and not being bothered at all by my very close by activities), so I tried poking it gently with a stick (these frogs or toads can be poisonous, hence the stick)... still no response, so I poked it a bit more, and then finally it jumped away, leaving me behind relieved and with the secure knowledge I hadn't spent all that energy on a dead frog...
Leica M9 with Leica Summilux 50mm f/1.4 ASPH
Berg en Dal, Suriname, South-America - 5 January 2012
Waiting For A Kiss
...or 'The Frog That Didn't Move'...
When taking photos of animals you usually need to be quick... you can't tell them to pose, nor move them or turn them into the better light... with this photo that all changed...
It's a 32 seconds exposure of a frog that sat absolutely frozen for minutes... you can tell by the fact the photo is razor sharp (notice the sort of hair stuck to its cheek)... with a 32 seconds exposure the slightest movement would have spoiled the photo... you can see it was breathing by the vague patch under its mouth (that was the only part of its body that moved, but I concluded that only later, it was too dark to see it on the live frog)...
After I had taken the right shot (laying flat on my tummy on the wood of a pier, trying to get the frog in focus - LiveView on a Leica M9 would be a blessing) it still didn't budge, despite the fact I was busy with this photo for at least 5 minutes, shoving the camera closer and closer into its face... then we started to wonder if it wasn't dead (which seemed weird, seeing its pose, but not completely illogical, seeing its frozen attitude in the tropical 26 or so degrees Celsius, and not being bothered at all by my very close by activities), so I tried poking it gently with a stick (these frogs or toads can be poisonous, hence the stick)... still no response, so I poked it a bit more, and then finally it jumped away, leaving me behind relieved and with the secure knowledge I hadn't spent all that energy on a dead frog...
Leica M9 with Leica Summilux 50mm f/1.4 ASPH
Berg en Dal, Suriname, South-America - 5 January 2012
When taking photos of animals you usually need to be quick... you can't tell them to pose, nor move them or turn them into the better light... with this photo that all changed...
It's a 32 seconds exposure of a frog that sat absolutely frozen for minutes... you can tell by the fact the photo is razor sharp (notice the sort of hair stuck to its cheek)... with a 32 seconds exposure the slightest movement would have spoiled the photo... you can see it was breathing by the vague patch under its mouth (that was the only part of its body that moved, but I concluded that only later, it was too dark to see it on the live frog)...
After I had taken the right shot (laying flat on my tummy on the wood of a pier, trying to get the frog in focus - LiveView on a Leica M9 would be a blessing) it still didn't budge, despite the fact I was busy with this photo for at least 5 minutes, shoving the camera closer and closer into its face... then we started to wonder if it wasn't dead (which seemed weird, seeing its pose, but not completely illogical, seeing its frozen attitude in the tropical 26 or so degrees Celsius, and not being bothered at all by my very close by activities), so I tried poking it gently with a stick (these frogs or toads can be poisonous, hence the stick)... still no response, so I poked it a bit more, and then finally it jumped away, leaving me behind relieved and with the secure knowledge I hadn't spent all that energy on a dead frog...
Leica M9 with Leica Summilux 50mm f/1.4 ASPH
Berg en Dal, Suriname, South-America - 5 January 2012