It is a new year, and time for more frog pictures! The other night, Freddie and Marabelle decided to pose for a photo together. They rarely ever decide to both sit on the tree at the same time, so this was a nice opportunity. Unfortunately, Marabelle decided to go for a dip in the waterfall shortly after I set up my camera, so I only had time to snap a few photos, and I wasn't able to get one with both of them completely in focus.

When I'm faced with rare photo opportunities, I like to take a "shoot first, think later" approach. In this case I set up my tripod and camera as quickly and quietly as possible, took two quick colour snapshots at high ISO and quick shutter speeds, then switched to black and white mode and adjusted the ISO down, slowing down the shutter speed. I took a third photo using these settings, still on auto focus. Then I switched to manual focus and started taking more time focusing and adjusting the aperture setting to get the correct depth of field. This was my fourth exposure, using manual focus and an intermediate aperture setting, still allowing for a relatively quick photo. I was halfway through my fifth exposure (which would have had the correct focus and depth of field) when Freddie moved. I was halfway through my sixth exposure (a retake of the third exposure) when Marabelle moved.

I like this approach, even though it wastes a bit of time at the beginning, it means I usually have something to work with even if the photo opportunity disappears quickly. Usually the frogs are still enough that I have plenty of time to get the photo I want. In this case, I'm pretty happy with the photo I got. Having Freddie slightly out of focus adds some depth to the picture.

Technical details: This photo was taken using by 5D Mark II + Tamron 28-75 at 75mm, ISO 800, f/8 for 6 seconds.