Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake

[Andrew McLachlan]

Don't get over to this forum too often, but I recently returned from several days up at the cabin near Parry Sound, Ontario. While up there I decided to make a trip over to Killbear Provincial Park, on the shores of Georgian Bay to look for the endangered Eastern Massasauga Rattlensakes. I have treid numerous times before but always came home empty handed. This time I found one. It was a youngster of about 12-14 inches and only had two segments on its rattle but it's markings were beautiful.

Using the Live View on the D800 I zoomed in on the snakes eye to manually focus. I also used the DX crop feature to get a little closer.

Nikon D800
Nikon 80-400mm VR lens @ 400mm (600mm equivalent)
ISO 800
f16 @ 1/13th second

Look forward to comments.

117699

[Jamie Douglas]

I am happy you found what you were looking for Andrew. Lots of nice detail in the head and you have to love the colour of those markings.

Jamie

[Ken Watkins]

This is a great image with remarkable detail, I am in two minds about the small log in lower right hand corner and wonder if more of a pano crop may work here?

[Hilary Hann]

Certainly a beautifully marked snake but what really grabs my attention is the head and the eye in particular with its colour and texture. I know with a subject that small, that a close up head study would have been difficult but one day hopefully you get a larger specimen and can really get in close.

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Andrew, good call on using the cameras technology.

The marking shows just how well they blend into their environment and unless you hear that distinctive rattle, you can see how accidents happen. I like the fact you have the snake moving over the log certainly adds interest, plus the way the head is coiled back. Curious about the techs, f/13. Might look at the Cyan coming through in parts, plus did you apply any sharpening to the LHS of the FG, looks a little 'crisp'?

Hope to see more of your images over here too. :S3:

TFS
Steve

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Andrew - glad to see you in Wildlife and that you found your snake. I like the way this it is draped over the log and the sharpness and detail on the head. I'm a little surprised that more isn't in focus at f16. Good suggestions above about color and sharpening.

TFS,
Rachel

[Andreas Liedmann]

Hi Andrew,
nice colorful youngster of this species.
Like the comp as is with the snake draped above the log.Detail and sharpness as well as contrast looks good .

Would leave the colors as they are.

Cheers Andreas

[Andrew Merwin]

I like how your image shoes movement because of the snake being draped over the log. I also like the OOF leaf to the right of the snake because it adds color, albeit muted, to the image. The detail is remarkable. TFS.

[Marina Scarr]

The composition you chose for this really works well, and I have a feeling it wasn't easy to compose. I esp like the diagonal branch in the right corner and the various textures.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks folks for the comments, much appreciated.

The log the snake is on is angled away from us hence the LHS more crisp. I tried an alternate version sharpening only the snake and the RHS of the log..seems to work better..thanks for mentioning.

Steve - in my eagerness to photograph the snake I forgot about my earlier aperture setting of f16 that I was using for landscapes, but once noticed I liked the DOF I was getting and the snake was remaining very still so I left it as is.

Hilary - I did try a couple of photos with my 105 macro but it was a little too close for comfort. :S3:

[Steve Kaluski]

Cheers Andrew, just was worried about the SS at 1/13th, thanks for the feedback.

Just saw NG this morning and what the venom can do when this snake strikes a human, rather you than me. :w3 Stay safe.

[Morkel Erasmus]

nice moment and specimen here Andrew (good to see you on this side :bg3:)
love the colour of the snake
It just seems like you ran some tonal contrast on the entire image, which gave it that texturised look? I would reduce that, if possible only to apply to the snake and to set opacity a bit higher...:e3

PS: how are you enjoying the D800? :S3:

[Andrew McLachlan]

Thanks Morkel...yes I did run some tonal contrast on the image also, I did reduce the opacity on the background but will go back and reduce further or eliminate it. Since I upgraded from the D200 I am loving everything about the D800 very much. I have been photographing lots of Loons and Bullfrogs at dusk at high ISO settings with lovely results. It is so nice to have that option...and the Live View option is fantastic for photographing the Bullfrogs from the canoe. Love the Virtual Horizon feature too...hope to try some video soon although I know absolutely nothing about editing video footage :S3: