Pond photography

[TJ]

I found a tiny park hidden away in my central Tokyo neighborhood with a wonderful pond full of
Eastern Japanese Common Toad (Bufo japonicus formosus) eggs. The area where I live is a real concrete jungle so it's a wonder that such places remain at all

I'm planning to make frequent visits over the coming days and weeks to practice pond photography in advance of some trips scheduled for March to photograph Hynobius egg sacs in ponds. I took these today in my digital SLR camera's normal mode without the aid of a polaring filter to counter glare, but plan to use a filter next time. Any tips would be appreciated

Would a filter have taken care of the kind of glare seen in these pics? Since using a filter results in a darker image, how would one compensate for that?

Also, a question about toad egg sacs that has some bearing on Hynobiids and their larger-than-the-salamander-that-laid-them egg sacs: how does one toad lay an egg sac this long? I mean, some of these sacs look to be a meter or so in length! They obviously must swell with the absorption of water from the pond. Did I just answer my own question or is there more to it than this?

 

[john]

Nice photos Tim. There's minimal glare there and I doubt a polarizer will remove much more. It's probably not worth it for the light sacrifice.

Toads lay eggs like that in strings, not in clumps - the female will lays an egg or two at a time and covers them with jelly, moves on a bit and keeps doing it to build the chain you see, so she doesn't produce them all in one go or anything.

 

[TJ]

Thanks John, I didn't know that about toads. Amazing critters. As for the reflection, well then I guess it all just comes down to standing in the right spot

I had to engage in some acrobatic acts to get the shots shown above. Too bad there were no salamander egg sacs.