This is the kind of thing that makes me want to tear my hair out in frustration. I happened to see a little toad that looked just exactly like a piece of bark. I had to get off a couple of quick shots with the digital camera before it jumped away, and didn’t have time to mess around with all the options and controls. The camera simply would not focus on the toad. It was set to “auto.” This is the sad result.

As you see, the background is captured perfectly. I tried to fill the whole screen with the toad, zooming in til I could zoom no more - all to no avail. I didn’t have any problem taking a photograph of small flowers, but I suppose that’s because there weren’t really two distinct field depths.

So what is the secret, photographers? If this happens again, I shall scream.