Monkey Frog...Is this better or am I doomed?

[Flurry]

Revised shot adjusting the temp per member suggestion. Still not sure I am getting all that I can out of this picture. I hate to throw in the towel because this guy is just too ugly/cute.



Original version:

[Loose Canon]

I'm sorry to have to tell you Ginny that I'm afraid you are terminally doomed to taking great shots of cool looking creatures. At least you heard it from a friend instead of some Bozo stranger!

Customarily, a traditional composition of a profile shot will leave some room to the side the victim is looking toward to give them room to look into. I am neither traditionally customary, nor am I customarily traditional. But something to consider.

Maybe bring your vignette in a bit and make it a bit lighter and a more gradual falloff so as not to bring attention to the corners of the frame.

I would suggest working on the eyes to bring them out if anyone asked me.

Thankfully, no one did!

Great shot, Ginny!

[Donald]

Still not sure I am getting all that I can out of this picture.

What is it you think you're not getting out of it? Imagine it was someone else's image and they were asking for comment and criticism - What would you say to them?

[jeeperman]

Ginny, I do like this image. Cool looking frog. It looks to be a difficult one to get the color just right. I would also rather a little more room infront of him as I see was mentioned above as well as working on the eyes. I seem to be thinking along the same lines as Terry. I had a quick play to see what was what and came up with the edit you see below. I adjusted the clipping points in levels and rightened the eye slightly. I then gave a localized sharpening and cropped it. Being I was not there I am unsure how close the color is, you'll have to tell me.

[Bobobird]

Handsome looking one that you caught. Would have been very happy to have got one myself.

Paul has done a good job with his edit and has brought out the skin textures quite a bit.

I have also given it a go with a bit of colour correction, bit of contrast adjustment and selective sharpening.

[Geoff F]

I think, Ginny, that we really need to know what is the true colour of this creature. With this sort of scene, without any clear reference point like a patch of pure white for example, we are really just guessing.

I would suggest that your original is a little too yellow and the edit has gone too far to the blue side; but I don't really know without some guidance.

[Flurry]

Paul got it just about perfect. The little guy is VERY bright green with cream colored stripes. He was actually staring into another frogs rear-end, which is why I cropped where I did. Great point from Terry about leaving more room in front of profile shots. I had no idea! The background was causing me the most trouble since I am such a beginner. Trying to get that right ruined the frog, trying to get the frog right, ruined the background. I am going to practice my edit again to see if I can match what Paul did. (I read the tutorial about sharpening as well).

Thanks to you all for your help.

[Flurry]

What is it you think you're not getting out of it?

I just could not get him to look like the way my eyes saw him. Paul did!

[jeeperman]

Ginny, glad I was close. When you are giving it a go....when working in levels, remember to adjust each color channel and not just value. I adjusted each green, red and blue individually. Being there is no straight white or absolute black it will be a trial and error by eye thing as you can't use the white or black dropper.

[Flurry]

I will Paul. I can't thank you guys enough for your guidance. This site is just awesome!