Glass Frog, Costa Rica

On one of our “free” afternoons at Sevla Verde Lodge in Costa Rica, we made an appointment with young wildlife artist and photographer who specializes in his particular area. He promised at least one owl, of the two he knew the roosts of, glass frogs, White Honduran Tent-making Bats, and the White-tipped Sicklebill Hummingbird (a very hard to see bird), so we made the 45 minute drive to the minature wildlife refuge he has created around his home. We found one Owl, the Crested Owl, on our second try. The Black and White Owls had shifted roosts in the heavy rains of the night before, and were nowhere to be found in the heavy second growth rainforest, but we did find the bats. And, he had, as promised, found us at least one Glass Frog, which he set us for us in the improvised outdoor photo studio beside his home. Glass Frogs are unique in that they are, as the name might imply, semi-transparent…translucent enough so that, in good light, you can see the organs inside. We were loosing the light to a coming storm, but there was still enough so that I could use the Sony RX10iii’s multiple exposure noise reduction ISO setting for some very effective shots. Wonderful, strange creatures and a real treat to see and photograph. 

Sony RX10iii at 600mm equivalent. Multi-exposure Noise Reduction ISO mode. 1/125 @ f4 @ a nominal ISO of 1600…but actually 4 stacked exposures at ISO 400. Processed in Polarr.