Northern Grey Tree Toad and Northern Water Snake

[PixelRabbit]

Was very lucky to find the toad! Normally they are up high in the trees, this little one was crossing the driveway.
I found the snake at the bottom of the stairwell to the basement door yesterday, took him out and "freed" him... only to find him back today lol

Found editing the toad a little tough, not sure I'm happy with his texture but it's close, and his colour was very subtle.
It was very close quarters with the Water Snake so didn't end up with a lot of variety, here are my favourites of both sets.
C&C always welcome and appreciated!
Thanks for taking a look

 

[Snakeguy101]

They are nice clear images and are spot on as far as metering and focus goes but there are a lot of distracting elements in all of the shots. Particularly the red line in the background and the frass under the N. sipedon and the foreground grass & grey spherical shape to the right of the first hyla picture. I would try to get the animals into a more open area or do some clean up around the animals to eliminate these distractions.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks Snakeguy, damn I think I had tunnel vision on the subjects lol I might have to take another look through these series' and see if there are less busy ones although I doubt it.

 

[Joel_W]

Judi, well done.

The Toad pictures looks like you really had a hard time controlling DOF, and keeping as much of the toad in focus as possible. In picture 2 you handled it much better with the angle you shot at, verses the head on shot in picture 1. Also the foreground is much cleaner in picture 2 then in picture 1.

Picture 3 is a snake shot, and you know how I feel about snakes. I would have cropped it so that I had more head, as that eye is just sharp as a tack, and it's staring right at me.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks Joel, your C&C is spot on, the straight on shot was a challenge for sure, I really wanted to get from the tip of his nose to his feet but never really found the balance between DOF and exposure to make it happen.
I like the suggestion to crop the snake closer, I will def do that when I edit tonight and post the results.

 

[jriepe]

I like the snake. It is nice and sharp.

Jerry

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks Jerry

 

[Infinite_Day]

I like them as well. Your Nerodia looks much more vibrant in color than what we see here. Did you get musked when you moved it or did you not handle it? Their musk is foul and they're not generally pleasant when you try to handle them.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Thanks ID.
I moved it out of the stairwell the day before this shot but he obviously came back lol. I got lucky and didn't get musked, perhaps because it was a chilly day and it was groggy?

I forgot to post the crop Joel suggested! Here it is, I'm a little iffy on the composition and think I may have lost a bit of the sharpness.