Deadly beautiful

Snakeguy101 · Aug 27, 2012

A shot of my eyelash viper. She is gravid right now so I took this picture to show what her babies should turn out like to a few potential buyers. Let me know what you think. I am always open to C&C.

LaFoto · Aug 27, 2012

Beautiful snake - and yes, I am sure the potential buyers get a good idea of what the babies may look like.
Where I live, any normal person may not keep poisonous snakes... and I wouldn't want to.
But I like the ones we have - harmless as they are! ;-)

Snakeguy101 · Aug 27, 2012

Are you kidding me? All of the good venomous snakes are shipped through Germany. From what I understand you guys have some of the most relaxed laws. But I can assure you, none of us are normal- haha. Thanks for the compliment.

WesternGuy · Aug 28, 2012

Not knowing anything about snakes, this is a very colourful one - looks kind of ominous as well, but I do like the image. Thinking about it a bit, I would try and get one to show more of the top of her head, rather than the bottom, that way, more of the eyes would be visible. My 0.02¢ FWIW.

WesternGuy

Snakeguy101 · Aug 28, 2012

Thanks, I see what you mean about the eyes. I was also thinking about dodging and burning a little around the head so that it does not get lost in her cryptic pattern and blend with the body so much- that is something that has been bothering me a bit. Did anyone else notice it or am I crazy?

SCraig · Aug 28, 2012

Do they call them "Eyelash Vipers" because of that little eyelash-like flap over their eyes? The zoo here has one but it is solid yellow. It does have the eyelashes (it that's what they are) though.

Personally I'm plenty happy to have all of their snakes a couple of miles away from me. They have a Bushmaster that absolutely HATES me. I think it's because I may have seared his eyes with a flash a couple of years ago

He will be perfectly content and sleeping until he sees me and then he gets really active and hisses at me behind the glass.

Snakeguy101 · Aug 29, 2012

SCraig said:
Do they call them "Eyelash Vipers" because of that little eyelash-like flap over their eyes? The zoo here has one but it is solid yellow. It does have the eyelashes (it that's what they are) though.

Personally I'm plenty happy to have all of their snakes a couple of miles away from me. They have a Bushmaster that absolutely HATES me. I think it's because I may have seared his eyes with a flash a couple of years ago He will be perfectly content and sleeping until he sees me and then he gets really active and hisses at me behind the glass.

Yes, Eyelash vipers are named for the supraocular scales that protrude a bit. They come in all sorts of colors. Here is a photo of my yellow one and a close up of the same one that I posted above so that you can get a better look at those "eyelashes".

SCraig · Aug 29, 2012

Snakeguy101 said:
Yes, Eyelash vipers are named for the supraocular scales that protrude a bit. They come in all sorts of colors. Here is a photo of my yellow one and a close up of the same one that I posted above so that you can get a better look at those "eyelashes".

Thanks, that answered my question. Unfortunately, um, no photos attached

Edit ... Never mind, the photos are there. My ad blocker blocks a lot of sites that I sometimes forget about. The yellow one is just like the one they have here at the zoo. And the photos really show the eyelashes well.

2WheelPhoto · Aug 29, 2012

are they friendly

jaomul · Aug 29, 2012

2WheelPhoto said:
are they friendly

Yes, if your a mouse or rat

jwbryson1 · Aug 29, 2012

I have 3 words for you: Rikki Tikki Tavi :mrgreen:

Snakeguy101 · Aug 31, 2012

SCraig said:
the photos really show the eyelashes well.

Thanks

2WheelPhoto said:
are they friendly

not at all. They are constantly trying to bite me.

jwbryson1 said:
I have 3 words for you: Rikki Tikki Tavi :mrgreen:

haha- I had to look that up. that was a little before my time.

Any C&C?

SCraig · Aug 31, 2012

Snakeguy101 said:
... Any C&C?

As mentioned in post #4 I think it would have been better with more light on top and shot from either quarter. The nose-on perspective is interesting but I prefer to see the eyes, even if it is from the front quarter. In addition there is a rather harsh shadow being cast by her head camera right.

That angle does, in some ways, add tension to the photograph since that angle is the one most people dread seeing a snake from. I personally would rather see a snake's head from the side since there is less chance of it's interest being in me.

Snakeguy101 · Sep 1, 2012

I agree about the shadow. I should have added in a bounce to fix that. Thanks for your comment about the angle too- it is something I guess I was just going for the most dramatic shot and not necessarily the best composition.