Green Frog Under A Red Light

Last night, while sifting through some of the palms in our garden I came across this handsome fellow - a White-Lipped Tree Frog.

Now we have done posts on these guys before, and I don't really intend to focus as much on the frog but on the photo - or to be more precise, on the method of taking the photo.

As I mentioned in a previous scorpion post, the use of soft red light is beneficial should you want to cause the least disturbance to whatever animal it is you are observing. It'd never occurred to me to attempt to take a photo under the same light conditions (and yes, I'm sure it's all been done before ... but like I said - not by me).

Anyway, here is the result.

A red, white lipped green tree frog!?

Of course, the picture holds little value in the sense of identifying the subject - but it may be a good way of getting some interesting behavioural shots, and I am going to experiment with it over the next little while.

Shielding the flash or using white light at further distances and angles could be another way to go if you'd like to soften your images and reduce the risk of startling the animals you're 'shooting'.

For me this was an exciting little 'eureka' moment and with a bit of stealth, judicious use of lighting plus a healthy dose of luck I hope to be able to get some unique images - I'll keep ya posted.

Bright, white light does give contrast and dramatic highlights, but comes at a cost

You don't need to spend loads of cash to achieve unique results. The tail light of your pushy would do (just turn the strobe off though, eh?). Or try a bit of red, blue or yellow cellophane held in place over a torch with a rubber band to give some interesting effects and note which colours seem to bother the animal the least.

Take Care