While taking pictures in the forest areas of Llovizna Park in Bolivar state in Venezuela, I ran across this beautiful Dendrobates leucomelas aka Yellow Dart Frog (poisonous), hiding among the leaves on the forest floor. The small (about 5cm) frog is called a dart frog because the deadly poison they secrete is used by the indigenous tribes to coat their blow darts and arrrows.

Comments and critique are most welcome.



Edit: Cropped as per suggestion by MSL and charliezap

[MSL]

Nice colours. Try cropping it to remove about 4-5 cm from the top, or just enough from the right to be close to the frog, while keeping the proportions. This will make the frog stand out more.

My daughter's comment is that she felt there were two subjects in the image, the frog and the bright yellow leaf.

[charliezap]

A very good capture Jesus.I agree that some cropping may enhance it a bit.--charliezap

[jase036]

@MSL thanks for the suggestion, I will try the crop
As for your daughter's comment, that is 100% right
I tried to compose the image so as to include the leaf and to have a somewhat similar shape. When you are walking around in the forest, it is surprisingly easy not to notice these frogs despite the bright colors, because they sorta blend in with the yellow leaves (hence the title "Blending In"). Just for the record, I did not place the leaf there, nor did I move it, I just wanted to include it so as to "mirror" the frog and composed the image in such a way as to achieve that.

[MSL]

I think her point was that the two objects, being of similar colour and size pull your eyes both ways, so when you look at the image it is hard to know which part to focus on. Also the spacing between the objects is about the same as their combined size. So while I see your point about blending in, the composition doesn't quite work at conveying that feeling.

[jase036]

@MSL I understand and see what you mean... Thanks so much for the great feedback to both you and your daughter
Perhaps I will tone the leaf down and see if that helps maintain compositional weight on the frog

[Na Horuk]

Its a great shot, though I would maybe like to see a little more surrounding area to get a feel of how tiny the frog is. But great focus, sharpness, processing.