precious hardwood bowls and something more...
so, i set up a simple studio here at my house on the coast. i shot a few pics of wooden bowls i bought from an artisan in dominical. here is one i shot with my nikon D7200 and 50mm f/1.8 lens and a couple of yongnuo speedlights with umbrellas:
then i noticed a tree frog sleeping on the outside of one of my windows, so i went out and grabbed him. he was quite cooperative, surprisingly. shot this with the D850 and 105 f/2.8 micro nikkor and the speedlights:
after processing that last pic, i wanted to see how it would look if i cropped it so the frog became the subject. this is the same shot with only 14% of the image left after cropping.
i took away a few things from the day of shooting. most importantly, with the right lighting, a consumer grade APS-C camera and a $200 plastic fantastic 50mm lens can make some stunning images. so, all you folks with entry level gear, be it nikon, canon, olympus, lumix or sony, you don't need to worry about upgrading your camera. invest, instead, in some speedlights and diffusers and you will blow your own minds.
also, i learned that you should try not to get frog slime on your camera or lens.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Plus a heart for the frog.
How thoughtful of the frog to cooperate.
Our younger son, who is 28, has become quite accomplished with both still and drone photography. He has just left his corporate job, and is going to try to earn his living as a photographer. He’s had several jobs already.
I’ll be sure to pass on your tip about avoiding frog slime - 
I think he has future in modeling.
