The Association of Zoos and Aquariums has declared 2008 the Year of the Frog to mark a major conservation effort to address the amphibian extinction crisis.

Amphibians—frogs, toads, salamanders, and newts—are declining rapidly around the world. More than one-third of all amphibian species are threatened with extinction, with habitat loss and disease being two of the main culprits. Climate change and pollution are also causing amphibian decline.

Amphibians are widely thought to be "canaries in the global coalmine." They live both on land and in water, and absorb oxygen and water through their porous skins, so they may be among the first to suffer from air and water pollution. The decline of this order of animals is worrisome for its own sake. But as sentinels for the rest of us, the amphibian crisis is a grave cause for concern.
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Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Exposure Time 0.6s (6/10)
Aperture f/32.0
ISO 400
Focal Length 180mm (234mm in 35mm)
Flash flash fired, compulsory flash mode
Exposure Program aperture priority
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV
Exposure Mode auto
White Balance auto
Color Space sRGB

Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Exposure Time 0.0166s (1/60)
Aperture f/32.0
ISO 200
Focal Length 100mm (130mm in 35mm)
Flash flash fired, compulsory flash mode
Exposure Program manual
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Exposure Mode manual
White Balance auto
Color Space sRGB

Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Exposure Time 0.01s (1/100)
Aperture f/6.3
ISO 200
Focal Length 100mm (130mm in 35mm)
Flash flash fired, compulsory flash mode
Exposure Program manual
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Exposure Mode manual
White Balance auto
Color Space sRGB

Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Exposure Time 0.0125s (1/80)
Aperture f/9.0
ISO 400
Focal Length 100mm (130mm in 35mm)
Flash flash fired, compulsory flash mode
Exposure Program manual
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Exposure Mode manual
White Balance auto
Color Space sRGB

Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark III
Exposure Time 0.0166s (1/60)
Aperture f/32.0
ISO 200
Focal Length 100mm (130mm in 35mm)
Flash flash fired, compulsory flash mode
Exposure Program manual
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Exposure Mode manual
White Balance auto
Color Space sRGB

Awesome shots - all!

Randy

Great series with 3 & 4 my favorites.
Thanks for letting me look at these wonderful images.

steve

Nice!
#3 looks like a Bombina spp, do you know the exact species?

RT.

Very Good RT, Bombina it is!!! Thanks for your time and kind words!

Awesome shots of the little frogs.

Mind me asking something..... I'm a tad confused. You write out that focal length is 100mm (130mm in 35mm). Is the Camera Canon EOS-1D Mark III a crop of what we old folks from the film days think of as 35mm full frame? Cause in that case, wouldn't it be a 100mm lens, which with a crop camera translates to 130mm?

I'm fairly new at this & now I'm confused......

Lil

Lil Judd, You are correct and here is a little more of an explanation:
In digital cameras there is a sensor in place where the film used to be in film cameras. The light passing through the camera's lens projects the image onto this sensor which then captures it digitally and records the image to memory. These sensors vary in size in both the number of pixels they contain (megapixels) and their physical dimension. Most digital SLR (single lens reflex) cameras bear a strong physical resemblance to the 35mm SLR's we shot in decades past. But a difference between many of these cameras is the size of their sensor.

Taking Canon's DSLR line for example, several of their cameras have an APS-C sensor which is smaller than a frame of 35mm film. The 20D model (a camera I also use) has this size of sensor. Since the sensor is smaller it only records a portion of the image the lens is projecting. This results in a "zoomed in" effect on the captured image. On cameras with this size sensor, a photographer has to take the focal length of their lens and multiply it by 1.6 on the 20D & 1.3 on the 1D MkIII to see what the equivalent focal length is.
Thanks for your time & kind words. I hope that this is helpful!

I enjoyed these images quite a bit; they are really quite beautiful. I appreciate your sensitivity to the current and past negative enviormental impact on the zoology. Thank you too, for including your settings with each shot, as that helps so much for those of us who are learning.

I would love to see additional images with some species specifiic identification. Thank you for this terrific thread.

Dave I.

Edited by David Israel on Jan 21, 2008 at 02:41 PM GMT

Thanks David, here are the species I.D's in their respective order.
1) Hylidae Cinerea ~ The Green Tree Frog
2) Golden Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax)
3) Fire-bellied Toad (Bombina orientalis)
4) Golden Tree Frog (Polypedates leucomystax)
5) Hylidae Cinerea ~ The Green Tree Frog

Most awesome. Thank you for the information (I have some reading to do on these cute little guys). I look forward to any future uploads.

Dave I.

Heres looking at you 1 more time!

Really like the Star-Cross eyes in #2. They're all excellent shots.