Just one rattlesnake. C&C

pedalpics · Jun 16, 2011

Took this over at a friends B&B. He sits under this certain tree where there are some bird feeders and waits for a bird to land in front of him. First is original pic second was cropped obviously but was it to much?

tpe · Jun 16, 2011

Lovely shots, a classic. The crop looks good at screen res, can you also get more out of it for a print?

As you know the snakes behaviour with birds is there any chance that you could keep out of view and get an action shot of it feeding?

Tim

ImKosher · Jun 16, 2011

wow, you can see the details in his eyes. Love this pic. It would give my wife nightmares...

NikonME · Jun 16, 2011

I like it. What lens did you use?

spacefuzz · Jun 16, 2011

nice shot, definitely get some shots of him feeding

pedalpics · Jun 16, 2011

I was using my Nikon 50-300 lens for the shot. I have been wanting to get a kill shot but everytime I am over at CJ's place he never gets one. CJ does have some on his blog though here is one (Birdie) Crack Kills – Wild Outdoor World of Arizona

Snakeguy101 · Jun 16, 2011

I don't like the composition. It is a little too centered. Try getting a lower angle and the tongue while it is sticking out. Also try bringing in some of the shadows that you have on the body of the snake using a dodge tool (or something similar). If you get another chance at this photo a good technique is to have your friend hold up something to block the sun so that it is completely in the shade and there are no hard shadows.

Here are some similar shots that I have taken with your snake's Eastern cousin.

NikonME · Jun 16, 2011

Snakeguy101 said:
I don't like the composition. It is a little too centered. Try getting a lower angle and the tongue while it is sticking out. Also try bringing in some of the shadows that you have on the body of the snake using a dodge tool (or something similar). If you get another chance at this photo a good technique is to have your friend hold up something to block the sun so that it is completely in the shade and there are no hard shadows.

Here are some similar shots that I have taken with your snake's Eastern cousin.

Though his composition may not be perfect, I must admit I like his much shot better than the two you posted. I am not trying to be rude, but his photo has much more detail. Both of yours lack the same level of detail. Personally, the tongue flick being important to the shot is a matter of opinion. I prefer it without. Also, if he got on the same level as the snake in that photo, he would have had a blade of grass distracting us from the shot like you did in your first posted photo.

Again, I am not trying to be rude. This is just my observation.

pedalpics · Jun 17, 2011

I would love to get some different angles on the snake but am still a little apprehensive to get into certain striking areas of a poisonous snake. I was already within striking distance but was trying to not get entirely in a bad spot. I do like the tongue idea and didn't even think of that. I really like they stand up pose they do also like in the second shot there but that is another one that makes me a little uneasy still. Hope to get more snake shots in the future that are good seems like I usually come across them when I am out on the bike and only have the P&S so that limits how close I can get to them.

Miladymimi · Jun 17, 2011

Cool shot, I like the scale detail. Nicely done.

Snakeguy101 · Jun 17, 2011

NikonME said:
Though his composition may not be perfect, I must admit I like his much shot better than the two you posted. I am not trying to be rude, but his photo has much more detail. Both of yours lack the same level of detail. Personally, the tongue flick being important to the shot is a matter of opinion. I prefer it without. Also, if he got on the same level as the snake in that photo, he would have had a blade of grass distracting us from the shot like you did in your first posted photo.
Again, I am not trying to be rude. This is just my observation.

That's fine. I agree that he has an awesome amount of detail that I have not yet been able to get in any of my pics (probably because of the poor quality of lenses that I can afford) but I feel that composition is more important than detail but this is an art and it is very subjective- he asked for C&C and I am just giving him some ideas and what I thought of the shot. That's all.

pedalpics said:
I would love to get some different angles on the snake but am still a little apprehensive to get into certain striking areas of a poisonous snake. I was already within striking distance but was trying to not get entirely in a bad spot. I do like the tongue idea and didn't even think of that. I really like they stand up pose they do also like in the second shot there but that is another one that makes me a little uneasy still. Hope to get more snake shots in the future that are good seems like I usually come across them when I am out on the bike and only have the P&S so that limits how close I can get to them.

I understand that you are nervous- it's healthy but if you had a 300mm lens on your camera, you were no where near the strike range of that snake. I would say 5' is well enough away from one that size that you will not get bit and if it starts moving closer you have time to back up. For some more ideas, there are a bunch of excellent snake photographers over at this site:
Field Herp Forum • View forum - The Forum

NikonME · Jun 17, 2011

Snakeguy101 said:
That's fine. I agree that he has an awesome amount of detail that I have not yet been able to get in any of my pics (probably because of the poor quality of lenses that I can afford) but I feel that composition is more important than detail but this is an art and it is very subjective- he asked for C&C and I am just giving him some ideas and what I thought of the shot. That's all.

All the OP has to do is recrop the image to bring the snake within the rule of thirds and it will be an excellent photograph.

Snakeguy101 · Jun 17, 2011

here is a quick edit. I just brightened up the shadows, desaturated the grass a tad, and warmed up some of the blue areas. I am not sure if I like this one or your tight crop more but it was a great image to play with.

Bynx · Jun 17, 2011

So far I don't seen any improvements over the original two pics. The second pic of the OP could be improved, but its just fine as is. Unfortunately that out of focus grass doesnt improve the image so that tight crop was necessary.