Green and Black Poison Dart Frog: Frog Heaven, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, March 2025 — Much like Zebras, there might be some debate as to whether this poison dart frog is more green on black or black on green…but the official name is Green and Black. It is, even more officially, Dendrobates auratus. They are in the same family as the bright red and blue Strawberry (or Blue-jeans) poison dart frog, but a different species. They are slightly larger as well as being, of course, about as totally a different color as you can get. 🙂 Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 265 and 463mm equivalents. By the light of my Ulanzi Photo Flashlight (and led light not a flash), using my little travel tripod. Aperture preferred program with my macro modifications. f16 at 1/30th. Processed in Photomator.

Red-eyed Leaf Frog: Frog Heaven, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica, March 2025 — The Red-eyed Leaf Frog is probably the poster child for Costa Rican conservation…and maybe for Central American Conservation, or even Rainforest Conservation. It is just such a stunning subject for photography, with its unlikely combination of bright colors and quirky looks, and is the one non-bird species that almost every photographer who visits Costa Rica wants to photograph. Now I am going to tell you that almost every photo you have ever seen of a Red-eyed Leaf frog was posed. It is possible to find them, around the decorative pool at Selva Verde Lodge, or just out in the Rainforest, where they can be photographed “in situ” so to speak, but those are not the photographs you have likely seen. The folks at Frog Heaven brought this frog in to their little photo shelter in the rainforest and placed it on the woody vine for us to photograph. No flash was used, nor is flash allowed. These were taken by the gentle light of my made-for-purpose hand-held led. The folks at Frog Heaven are very careful in handling the wild fogs…it is their business…and they truly care about the wellbeing of the frogs on their property. No harm was done, but the frog’s night was disrupted. I do have mixed feelings about that…but these are without doubt my best photos to date of Red-eyed Leaf Frogs. I offer them as an incentive to protect the rainforest, as the people at Frog Heaven do every day…without photographers eager to photograph frogs and the skill of the Frog Heaven workers, and the vision of the owners, this property would be what it was a generation ago…just another banana plantation on the river. Sony a6700. Tamron 50-400 at 600mm equivalent. My macro modifications to Aperture Preferred Program. f14 and f20 for increased depth of field. -1 to -2 EV to balance highlights and shadow under the artificial light. Processed (including noise reduction) in Photomator.