Tree frogs are exotic, cute and colorful. Of course no one would turn their attention to common frogs. No one in their right mind would lie in the mud, photographing such boring creatures. Well, I do! I will let you decide if I am in my right mind or not. I picked an overcast day deliberately. Soft light was needed for the frogs. I wanted to photograph some bird but they were not around and the frogs kept on calling me. It drizzled a bit and we had lots of rain a few days before.

          I fixed my Gimbal head to my ground-pod. I laid flat on my stomach to try to get as close to eye level with the frogs as possible. They were skittish and did not allow me to get close to them. So I just lay there waiting for them to get used to me. Soon they did and I was in business.

While they were still a bit further away all I could do is shoot a more minimalistic image. There were these green floaties on the water that gave this image a greenish tint. Soon, however, they came a bit closer.

This time, there were plants in the image. I was disappointed that my polarizer was not with me. This image would have been better with some polarization. It would have removed some of the brighter water glare.

Here I changed my angle a bit by slowing crawling more to one side. I wanted to eliminate some of the clutter of the plants and see if I could also minimize the glare on the water with a different vantage point. It worked. I like this image a lot more.

And here is another angle.  These are just common frogs, yet look how colorful they are. Just look at those eyes. You may not have exotic animals in your part of the neighborhood. You may not be close to majestic mountains, strong rivers, or vast lakes. But there is always something to photograph. For these fellows, get as low as you possibly can. Yes in the mud. Move slowly. Stay still. And just enjoy watching and photographing them. There is a totally new world of photography waiting if you are willing to go for the smaller and more common animals. And they are beautiful too.