Sorry - I've been lazy about posting recently. I've found that that tends to happen frequently when I have a batch of photos that I like but that all have a flaw of some sort.

This current batch was taken about a month ago at Beechwood Farms. This year, Anya has taken a shining to bird watching - we have about a hundred bird feeders in the back yard, we have several bird identification books and CDs, and we took a trip to Beechwood Farms as it is the local headquarters for the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.

On the grounds was a small pond. It was covered in duckweed, and absolutely swarming with frogs.

And then, through the duckweed, I spotted this guy...

Now, before I get into details, let me explain a few things. First, I decided to travel light this day. I only took my Canon EOS 7D with the Tamron 70-300mm lens attached. While that lens is a nice (and inexpensive) lens, it doesn't have any kind of image stabilization, so working at the 300mm range is tough without a tripod.

Technical Data: Canon EOS 7D, Tamron 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Di LD Macro1:2 at 238mm, 1/32 at f/11.3. ISO. No post production. Beechwood Farms, Fox Chapel, PA.

Why This Photo: I had been snapping shots of the frogs for some time when I noticed this pair. The tension in the situation was palpable. You knew both were watching the other and waiting to see what would happen. I tried to capture that tension as well as the stealth of the snake's approach.

What Works: The composition is ok, but I was working with what I had at hand. I couldn't really reposition or remove any distracting elements. At first, if you're not sure what you're looking at, the snake is almost invisible. The focus is pretty sharp on the frog, despite being handheld at a fairly long focal distance.

What Doesn't Work: Though the composition was ok, it is also somewhat lacking. The frog facing out of the frame is somewhat distracting, and there are a great number of distracting elements. Also, the depth of field prevented sharp focus on both the frog and the snake at the same time - this shot was the compromise.

Like I said, I really like this set of photos, but there seems to always be at least one thing wrong with each shot.

I may continue to be a bit of a slacker with the posts for a little bit here. Tomorrow I start a photography class at CCAC. I signed up with a friend mainly as a way to start getting some real training. Since I've self-taught all the way up to now, I figured some real training to confirm some of the stuff I've picked up would be a good idea. After this class, I think I'll probably try to find another, and then another, and ... well, you get the picture (yeah - pun intended again!).

- Bill