FrogFun

ORIGINAL Photography and Apparel By Steven Daniel ••• The frog photographs are made in a studio, or outdoors, using LIVE frogs. They are NOT multiple or composite images. ___________ Click the "LIKE" button to keep updated on Facebook --------------->

NEW: T-Shirts made from the frog photographs! More to come soon.

About The Frogs:
For my new frog series, I use a portrait studio and an elaborate lighting set-up and one or more live frogs. In many cases I’ll use backgrounds painted by a fellow artist. I use realistic-looking miniatures, such as the four-inch drum set in the "Drummer Frog" picture, to create a lifelike scene. A patient assistant wrangles the frogs into position, as in the "Electric Frog" picture in which the frog's hands are placed on the tiny guitar's strings.

My first successful photograph was the "Frog Standing on Leaf" picture. A friend helped nudge the frog into position while I stood behind the camera, but on the third try the frog disappeared. "Where's the frog?" I asked, while still looking through the viewfinder. My friend responded, laughing: "He's on your camera!”

Later, I put the frog on a miniature bicycle I found laying around the house, just to see what would happen. Making several attempts over a couple of days, we managed to make the frog look like he was riding a real bike.

I really enjoyed the new challenge. I started scouring specialty shops for miniatures to use as props in the studio. The "Frogs on Wheels" category expanded to include pictures of frogs with other miniatures, such as musical instruments and sporting equipment.

The frogs are unpredictable, and many times the final image isn't what I originally planned. People frequently ask how I get the frogs to stay in place, and the answer is that I don't. I just need the frog to be still for 1/60th of a second. And in many cases, they're photographed in motion: the frogs crawl, climb, and jump, as frogs do. I just try to catch them at the right moment. When I'm successful, it looks like trick photography. But they’re not composites or computer-generated images. The frogs are real--and so are the photographs.

- Steve

Please visit my other Etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/Justamoment

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