Photographing Frogs as a Macro Photographer I learned a long time ago any thoughts of this being a glamorous shoot should be stowed and discarded, like, forever! Macro Photographers exist in a word devoid of sense, our minds governed by thoughts of light diffusion, focal planes and depth of field. Fashion is not something we occupy ourselves with for the most part. Clothing needs functionality for the task at hand, Snake proof or rubber Wellington boots tend to be hard to coordinate for. Socially we can be clumsy. Looking interested as Aunt Edith goes on about her adventures at the recent Lawn Bowls meet, her words unheard, a low frequency hum. Thoughts instead on the last image, settings, angles, what ifs?

Ishikawa's Frog. I'd been looking for this guy for almost four years. Often suggested as being Japan's most beautiful Frog. I can see why people would suggest that.

So a recent plan was to go and spend a night deep in the jungles of Northern Okinawa. I'd often wondered what I would encounter if I were to stay at a place I call the 'Habu Hilton' in the nocturnal hours. What would I encounter? Not the kind of place most folks would like to check into as the Habu in question is the most prominent of venomous Habu pit vipers found in Okinawa, the Himei, or Princess, Habu. You can see more about this location in this YouTube video about me coming face to face with this stunning reptile. My quarry though was not serpentine for this shoot, it was amphibian. Photographing Frogs as a wildlife photographer is something that can be accomplished with abandon, there are just so many of the croaky little critters here.

I was planning to shoot both stills and video so that means twice the amount of gear, but more so with the video side of things. More gear, more bags, heavier load, old legs, waist high cold water. Like I said, us Macro Photographers are focused, dedicated to the shot! After an hour or so of grunting, sweating and manhandling the gear, at times in relay part and through specific water obstacles I reached my planned base camp. My plan was to set up a hammock and wait for the darkness to fall, for the jungle to come to life. And then it started raining! An hour later I was back at the van with all my gear just in time before the heavens opened. This was not a good thing.

Halliwell's Tree Frog, with their mating season in full swing they provided the constant natural soundtrack to the endeavor.

Best laid plans and all that. Time for Plan B. Photographing Frogs would be the direction of the evening. Given the constant rainfall my plans to shoot video had been scuppered. I simply now had 40kg of dead weight gear that wouldn't be used on this night in particular. Hey, it is what it is, just part and parcel of the Wildlife Photographers lot when it comes to depending on the weather. As that age old saying goes, "If it was easy everyone would be doing it". I took a drive to a location where I'd had numerous interactions with a massive variety of Amphibian fare. Fingers crossed there could still be a chance.

The eyes of Halliwell's Tree Frog are almost hypnotic to a point. Woof!

By the time I arrived the rain had slowed to a very light and intermittent drizzle, things were looking up. Ahead of me 8 kilometers of meandering roads snaked into the verdant depths of this pristine environment. Interspersed with rivers and streams it's the optimum territory, geologically speaking, of the target species. Conditions were perfect, I just hoped 'Kermit' would be home. Repacking my gear and erring more for stills I set off in the humid conditions. One bonus is that the rain had finally stopped.

One final decision before the off. Here I was in a location where the road is covered with a fine carpet of mosses and vegetation such is the lack of motorized transport. In the years I'd been frequenting this location I'd only ever encountered around three passing vehicles by night. Whipping off my soaked trousers I presented my underwear clad self to the jungle. Backpack, check. Camera in hand, check. Flash batteries changed and good to go, check. Headlamp batteries changed, check. I must have looked like a sight for sore eyes. A wild man of the jungle decked out with a serious camera rig, all spares and needed accessories packed and loaded. The look was topped off with my standard flaming Beanie, a rather dapper pair of Snake proof boots  and flower patterned boxer shorts! Just you wait, it's a look I think that will definitely catch on! You read it here first.

Leaves rustled. If I wanted the perfect night for photographing frogs then this was it. They were everywhere. From the diminutive and easily identified Kajika Frogs to one of the lesser, more rotund, encountered species, Holst's Frog. Numerous predators where also present. Two of the three species of Habu were encountered that evening. Habu being the venomous Pit Vipers that inhabit the island. Covering ground I would walk a kilometer on one side of the road, turn around and retrace the road on the opposite side, collect the vehicle, drive two or three kilometers and then walk back to the point of the last walked section to repeat the process. After some three hours I was still only about half way through the terrain I'd planned to cover. To speed things up I opted to simply drive at around 5kmh in areas where no verges or potential safe haven bolt holes were viable. With four clicks remaining I heard the call, that telltale vocalization. I was closing in. An Ishikawa's Frog was somewhere within earshot. Now to find it.

Ryukyu Tip Nosed Frogs are one of the more prominent species of the region. Their size guarantees an audible impact to the nocturnal soundtrack when they land amid the foliage.

Retaining walls, holding back or shoring up the encroaching jungle can be found throughout the Yambaru. Only three of these are to be found along the chosen route for this evenings walk. With overflow pipes built into them they offer safe haven to any number of the regions wildlife species. Ground Geckos, Snakes, Snails and Frogs of course could all be encountered when taking the time to investigate them for inhabitants.

Taking a break from photographing frogs I'd located a pretty wild looking snail and was about to busy myself with the textures of its mobile home when a movement caught my eye. I was on bended knee bracing my camera against the wall using a self devised stance that would make any circus contortionist proud. My head was about 12inches from one of the outflow pipes on that particular wall.

"No frikken way". It was an audible statement. Looking at me with a fixed gaze a small Ishikawa's Frog stood guarding the entrance of the pipe. Could this be an amphibians nightclub resplendent with Ishikawa's door security? Easily recognized due to their mottled green coloration that carried on through to its eyelids and toes. Unmistakeable. "Okay you Muppet, don't screw this up" thoughts of settings reflecting the immediate setting raced through my mind. My subject was a. very resplendent Green, the pipe was grey / white with moss growth, the retaining wall was stone, reflective.

As standard practice for night Macro I'd taped over the manual aperture ring on the Laowa 60mm f2.8 2:1 Macro lens I had fitted to my Canon EOS5DSr. This way in the heat of the moment I wouldn't make the mistake of shifting the aperture with an unintended knock on the lens which actually doesn't have that much resistance. Scotch Tape does the trick, never leave home without it. Given this small aperture, f16, I had both of the twin Macro flash heads of my KX800 flash set to full power. Sensitivity wise I was set at ISO320 with a shutter speed of 1/160th. It may just be that I get one chance, the strobe could very well scare the guy off, sending him retreating back along the 'corridor' of this particularly swanky venue. It's a risk all Macro Photographers run when trying to nail the shot. Here goes, the approach.

Movement is king. Slow breathing. I find once I illume a subject I get to know then and there if I've got a chance to get the shot. I had the modeling light of the flash unit trained on the subject. It stayed put. Half the battle was won right there. OK, slow, deliberate movements. Inching closer I felt my way with my knees in the damp leaf litter. Now was not the time to 'step' on a Habu! My final approach was to rest my elbows each side of the pipe, stability is king. My depth of field at such a close working distance is not massive. Make it count. I lined up the shot, critical inspection through the viewfinder to ensure focus on the eyelid. With wildlife photography one key rule is if the eye's are sharp and focused everything else is caviar. This was it. I tripped the shutter. A slight fidget, repositioning. I lined up for a second shot. I couldn't risk checking the initial shot via the LCD, the movement would scare the little dude away. I fired a second shot. He bolted for the dance floor.

It had taken me four years of searching. And here I was kneeling before the holy grail of Frog species in Okinawa, in my underwear! But hey, nailed the shot.

Checking the image in the LCD I could see that the first shot, while acceptable had ever so slightly missed part of the focus. I am my biggest critic, as are all macro photographers. We pixel peep in our never ending search for perfection. Skipping to the second image the first thing is to zoom into the image, check the eyes. This time it was spot on. This shot was four years in the making. That's how long it had been my goal to find and photograph this species. Alas that task is not complete as there is also a Blue colored morph of Ishikawa's Frog. I guess I'll be continuing to scour the roadside verges, water features and pipes of retaining walls throughout the Northern confines of Okinawa photographing frogs until I can add that critter to the archives. I'm just wondering which Boxers I'll be sporting for that next encounter!

Watch this space.

PS: To see the ghosted image of this page simply click the circular icon with opposing arrows in the top right corner of this page. Click a second time to revert to the standard view. Enjoy.

"Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography".

George Eastman