Frogs, Frogs, & More Frogs, & A Salamander Too!

 

Red-eyed Tree Frog – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec

 

The recently concluded Frogs of the World Photographic Workshop was a great success with the amphibians being very co-operative. The workshop participants came away with a stunning selection of imagery, of which I will share with you in a soon to be published blog post. A beautiful selection of tropical plants was sourced out to maintain natural looking set-ups to mimic what would we would find in the native habitats of each species we were photographing. This past workshop featured a couple of new additions as well – Dendrobates auratus dart frog and a Fire Salamander! Here are a few of the images I created in between assisting the workshop participants with their compositions and off camera flash techniques.

I will be hosting the next workshop in January and will likely mix it up a bit with some amphibians and a couple of very colorful, non-poisonous snakes!!! Please send me an email at info@andrewmclachlan.ca to be added to the “early-bird sign-up list” and you to can be creating stunning images of these incredibly beautiful and colorful critters without slogging through the swamp!

Do remember to click on each of the images to see the larger, sharper version.

 

Red-eyed Tree Frog – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec.

 

Fire Salamander – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec.

 

Fire Belly Toad – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec.

 

Dendrobates auratus – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec.

 

White’s Tree Frog – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec.

 

Red-eyed Tree Frog – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec.

 

Vietnamese Moss Frog – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec.

 

Dendrobates auratus – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec.

 

Red-eyed Tree Frog – captive
Nikon D800, Nikon 105mm Micro Lens
Nikon SB400 on a Wimberley F-2 Macro Bracket
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/60 sec.

 

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Northern Shoveler Paradise

Northern Shoveler – drake
Nikon D800, Nikon 200-500mm VR Lens
ISO 400, f8 @ 1/2500 sec

A couple of weeks ago I made my way down to Humber Bay Park in Toronto, along the Lake Ontario shoreline. I was pleased to see a beautiful Northern SHoveler drake in one of the ponds however, he was not being the most co-operative fellow. Yesterday I return for a follow-up visit to see if he was still hanging around. To my surprise there were numerous Northern Shoveler drakes present at the pond and they were being most co-operative. In roughly two hours I had created hundreds of image files of these ducks that have eluded me for a very long time. To gain the low angle perspective I laid down on one of the boardwalks beside the pond. This low perspective will give the resulting imagery a duck’s eye view and help create the soft out-of-focus background. Here is a selection of images created during yesterday’s visit.

Any folks that are interested in private-in-the-field instruction to hone their waterfowl photography skills can contact me at info@andrewmclachlan.ca to discuss booking a session for four hours of my undivided attention.

Northern Shoveler – drake
Nikon D800, Nikon 200-500 VR Lens
ISO 400, f8 @ 1/1600 sec

 

Northern Shoveler – drake
Nikon D800, Nikon 200-500 VR Lens
ISO 400, f8 @ 1/2500 sec

 

Northern Shoveler – drake – wing flap
Nikon D800, Nikon 200-500 VR Lens
ISO 400, f8 @ 1/2500 sec

 

Northern Shoveler – drake – wing flap
Nikon D800, Nikon 200-500 VR Lens
ISO 400, f8 @ 1/2500 sec

 

Northern Shoveler – drake
Nikon D800, Nikon 200-500 VR Lens
ISO 400, f8 @ 1/1250 sec

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Etobicoke Camera Club Presentation

 

I am pleased to announce that this evening I will be presenting my “A Photographer’s Guide to the Ontario Landscape” program for the Etobicoke Camera Club at the Humber Valley United Church ( 76 Anglesey Blvd. Etobicoke, Ontario) at 7:00 p.m. This is the presentation format of my popular eBook “A Photographer’s Guide to the Ontario Landscape” – the only extensive resource available for photographers on landscape photography in Ontario.

Also, a reminder to folks about the upcoming Frogs of the World Photographic Workshop on Saturday November 26th at 8:30 a.m. There are still a few spaces available for this one-of-a-kind workshop that will provide the opportunity to photograph some very interesting frogs from all around the world. Folks that are interested should contact me at info@andrewmclachlan.ca for further info.

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Autumn Splendor

Autumn color at Hatchery Falls, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada
Nikon D800, Laowa 15mm Macro Lens
ISO 100, f16 @ 0.8 sec.
Singh Ray Thin Mount Warm-Tone Polarizing Filter

Now that the leaves have fallen from the trees I have found time to process some of this year’s newly created autumn scenes. I took the time to photograph a few typical fall color scenes with the brilliant reds and oranges of the sugar maple trees and the surrounding landscape as seen above and below, but mostly I noticed I focused on different elements of the season.

Georgian Bay near Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada
Nikon D800, Nikon 24-85mm VR Lens @ 85mm
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/10 sec
Nikon Neutral Polarizing Filter

 

Georgian Bay, North Shore Rugged Hiking Trail in Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada
Nikon D800, Nikon 18-35mm lens @ 18mm
ISO 50, f16 @ 1/5 sec.
Nikon Neutral Polarizing Filter
Singh Ray 2-stop Graduated Neutral Density Filter

 

Oxtongue River, Dwight, Ontario, Canada
Nikon D800, Nikon 18-35mm lens @ 18mm
ISO 100, f16 @ 1/5 sec
Nikon Neutral Polarizing Filter

As I began editing the new image files I noticed that many of the photos had a more intimate view of the season. The cinnamon tones of dying ferns, autumn colors reflecting in flowing rivers, and impressionistic-style blurs of a grander scene reflecting in quiet ponds. Below are a few of these intimate autumn scenes that were newly created this year during several excursions into the autumn woodlands. The autumn fern scene was created on a particularly blustery day that required me to dial in an ISO of 800 and wait for a bit of a lull in the persistent breeze. After a lengthy wait I was rewarded with a moment of stillness.

Interrupted Ferns, Torrance Barrens, Ontario, Canada
Nikon D800, Nikon 18-35mm lens @ 18mm
ISO 800, f8 @ 1/20 sec.

One afternoon I decided to park beside a small quiet pond to have my lunch when I noticed the interplay of reflected sugar maple trees and paper birch trunks on the surface of the pond. Using my Nikon 200-500mm lens I zoomed in on various sections of the reflection to create several impressionistic blurs of the scene.

Autumn Reflections, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada
Nikon D800, Nikon 200-500mm lens @ 500mm
ISO 100, f16 @ 0.3 sec.

On another afternoon I found myself at McCutcheon’s Falls on the Black River in the village of Vankoughnet. After creating a few various compositions of the waterfall and surrounding autumn color I became drawn to a small section of the river where a sunlit sugar maple tree was reflecting off the river’s surface. Once again using my Nikon 200-500mm lens I zoomed the lens out to this section of the river to create this intimate view of the flowing water with stunning, blazing color as it reflected on the water.

Autumn Reflections, Muskoka, Ontario, Canada
Nikon D800, Nikon 200-500mm lens @ 450mm
ISO 100, 16 @ 0.3 sec.

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Country Images Camera Club & The Frog Pond Adventures Presentation

I am pleased to announce that tonight I will be presenting my Frog Pond Adventures program for the Country Images Camera Club at 8:00 p.m. The presentation will be held at the Newmarket Community Centre in Hall 1, which is located at 200 Doug Duncan Drive in Newmarket, Ontario. This will be my third time presenting to the Country Images Camera Club and I am looking forward to meeting these great folks again.

Just a quick reminder to folks about my upcoming Frogs of the World Photographic Workshop on Saturday November 26th at 8:30 a.m. I still have some space available. Please click here to see the blog post announcement for the workshop and feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience if you have any questions regarding this upcoming workshop.

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