These are Amazon milk frogs I photographed during my semi-annual frog and reptile workshop in St. Louis. The original background was out of focus foliage, but I thought I would try a different environment. Using the new sky replacement command in Photoshop (Edit > sky replacement), I use a cloudy sky for drama. What makes this composite especially compelling -- at least to me -- is that macro images like this rarely have complete focus. Close up work, even at f/32, means the subject may very well be rendered with extensive sharpness but the background can't be sharp unless focus stacking is used. With subjects like frogs that can move at any second, focus stacking is usually not feasible. That's why this kind of shot is unusual -- even though it's something that would be seen by our eyes because we always see with complete depth of field. My settings for the frogs were 1/40, f/11, and 4000 ISO, and I used a 100-400mm Canon telephoto along with an extension tube. The workshop is held in a hotel conference room, and the next one is June 12 & 13.
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