Toad to Toad

This is a response to the June challenge. Beginning with the processed original, I avoided all filters.

I'll post that original below. It has only one lonely toad sitting in some pretty nondescript vegetation (which it matches quite well). I decided that I wanted to give this toad more "warts".

My strategy here was to define patterns from the original and apply those patterns as textures to the toad and to the bg just by using blend modes. I started by defining a pattern on the most bumpy part of the toad (the belly just below the front leg). After applying it I found that the repeated pattern showed boundaries around each repeat. I suspect that there is a simple filter somewhere to eliminate that problem. However, I decided to just use the healing brush to take care of the boundaries. I then flipped the toad, inserted the original on the lhs, flipped both again and adjusted exposure to make reflections. I wanted to smooth the ground somewhat too, so I created a pattern of a portion of the smoother portion of ground and experimented with gradients and exposure.

So, the result is, one toad with a small number of bumps and the other with a real skin problem.

All comments most welcome.

1D Mark IV, 400 mm f/5.6, 1.4x TC, hand held: ISO 1250, 1/800 s, f/8, 0 EV, 6.3 MP (39% of the 16 MP of the 1D Mark IV), NR, exposure adjustment, sharpening.