Snake eating Rabbit

[EdNguyen]

1D mk3 + 800mm f/5.6 IS lens, 1/800s, f/5.6, ISO 400, EC 0, 580EX II flash + Better Beamer, handheld
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt29/nhankhanh/Wildlife%20June%2002%202009/779R0798small.jpg

This photo was taken in the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge in Alviso, California. When I got there, the snake had been swallowing the rabbit for some time already. My long lens allowed me to stay at a safe distance away from the snake to take these photos. I stayed around for about an hour, but the snake managed to swallow only a few more inches of the rabbit. When the snake sensed my presence, it gradually dragged the rabbit into the bushes nearby to be out of sight. I guess it must have taken the snake at least four to five hours to swallow the whole rabbit.

[Harshad Barve]

What a moment captured , very well done here
Thanks for sharing
Harshad

[David Smith]

I think that snake's eyes were bigger than it's mouth.. I know a snake can extend it's jaws, but looking at the remaining part of the rabbit, I don't believe the snake is going to swallow that one...

Love the image, EXP is good and image is very sharp. Very good capture..

Dave

[Kiran Poonacha]

Wow.. great moment captured.. Sharp shot...

[Fabs Forns]

Wow, talk about capturing the perfect moment! I think the light is quite harsh and toning down the highlight, for instance, with the Burn tool, may minimize the problem.
Thanks for sharing!

[Morkel Erasmus]

this is amazing - the details and DOF make this a stunner. I agree this snake punched a bit above its weight, would have loved to see if he made it...

[Robert Amoruso]

Ed,

Great job capturing the action. Light you have to work with and you did good covering the dynamic range.

I suggest the following (see repost for example).

In PS (but will work in other programs)

1) Reverse s-curve to lower contrast.
2) Selective color correction.
- Add 5% black to black and neutral colors. THis adds some "POP" lost with the reverse s-curve.
- Add 15% black to white color. Helps to tone down the whites/highlights.

You can add more black to the whites to tone down highlights more but you may have to mask out those portions of the image it does look good - like the rim lighting on the rabbit's fur.

Find out more about the above here: http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434.

A highlights selection, then copying to a layer and changing the blending mode to Multiply can tame highlights to. Blending modes here http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?t=20434 and highlight selection here http://www.birdphotographers.net/forums/showthread.php?p=161168.

Love the snake's eye.

[Ed Cordes]

All nits covered above. I like the repost better than the original. However, all that said this is still an outstanding action image. Must have been a great experience.

[Steve Canuel]

Gopher snakes can get big enough to eat rabbits but this one's got to wait a few years! A very interesting image. I like the subtle changes in Robert's repost. I might also consider cropping from the right to just outside the biggest leaf at the bottom. I think that would put more focus on the two heads, the coils, and the task at hand.

[EdNguyen]

Thank you all for your comments and feedback. I have made a few adjustments to the original image in this repost. Please let me know what you think.
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt29/nhankhanh/BirdPhotographersNetPosts/779R0798small2.jpg

[Robert Amoruso]

I like what you did Ed.

[Arthur Morris]

Fantastic image and fabulous use of flash to combat the backlighting. What was your flash set at?

Robert's repost is the better of the two as in Ed's repost the foreground is unnaturally dark. But Ed's repost is an improvement. I would try for something more like Robert's version with some kind of small crop from the bottom. Robert, thanks for your great work here.

[Arthur Morris]

ps: The backlit rabbit ear is killer! Congrats Ed!

[Stu Bowie]

Great DOF, and I like the sharp colourful detail on the snake. Great sighting.

[EdNguyen]

What was your flash set at?

The flash was set at Flash Exposure Compensation 0.00 (no compensation) with Better Beamer. I was about 20 feet away at the minimum focusing distance (20 feet for the 800mm f/5.6 IS lens)

[Arthur Morris]

Thanks Ed. Just what I would have done <smile> In strong backlit situations you do not want fill, you want to fully light the shaded side of the creature, thus, flash at zero. Way to go Ed.

[EdNguyen]

Thanks again, everyone, for your feedback. Here are two revised versions of the same photo per your suggestions:

1. brightened foreground
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt29/nhankhanh/BirdPhotographersNetPosts/779R0798small2-1.jpg


2. cropped
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt29/nhankhanh/BirdPhotographersNetPosts/779R0798small3.jpg

[EdNguyen]

Thanks Ed. Just what I would have done <smile> In strong backlit situations you do not want fill, you want to fully light the shaded side of the creature, thus, flash at zero. Way to go Ed.

Thanks, Arthur. I had to remove the "yellow eye" effect (instead of "red eye" for humans) since I didn't use a flash bracket (shot handheld).
</smile>

[Arthur Morris]

I would love to see the bottom repost with a bit more on the bottom. Killer good.

[Robert Amoruso]

Ed,

I like how you reprocessed the FG ground in the second to last post. After looking at it again, I would agree with Artie that the FG ground was too dark. I feel in the second to last post you hit it just right.

[EdNguyen]

I would love to see the bottom repost with a bit more on the bottom. Killer good.

How about this repost (with more room at the bottom), Arthur?
http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt29/nhankhanh/BirdPhotographersNetPosts/779R0798small4.jpg

[EdNguyen]

Ed,

I like how you reprocessed the FG ground in the second to last post. After looking at it again, I would agree with Artie that the FG ground was too dark. I feel in the second to last post you hit it just right.

Thanks again for your help, Robert. I really appreciate it.

[Arthur Morris]

Hey Ed, Wow! Your last repost left me smiling with goose bumps. Man, what an image. So many folks make their images worse in Photoshop. Here you took a great image and with the help of others created a spectacular image.