Sunning snake

If you go early enough, you can sometimes catch a view of a snake on the side of the road, even occasionally in the middle of the road. I think they are sunning themselves in the early morning, getting warmed up before heading off into the underbrush. The problem is you can't get close - about the time you see them, the feel the vibrations of the car or your footsteps, and off they go.

Except this one. Came across him in the middle of the road. Got out of the truck and took some quick pics just to say "gotcha", but the snake did not move. I was in a horrible photo location sun-wise, with the snake in his own shadow. I took a chance and walked up and around the snake to the 'good' side. The snake did not move. Well, time to get a 'good' pic ...........



Attachment 163196


Sony a77ii, Tamron 150-600, 600mm, f6.3, 1/2000sec, ISO 500

In LR CC: Pretty aggressive crop, Exposure +.24, Shadows -33, Whites -100 (to tone down all that white rock), Blacks +31, Clarity +14, Saturation +12

In PS CC: There were a bunch of white spec reflections off of the scales (from the sun), used the Lasso tool to capture and then Content-Aware Fill.


So I take several shots, and I'm worried that the snake has not moved. I now start thinking that maybe he had been run over by another car. So I go to pick up his body, and ...... the snake immediately went into a defensive coiled position. I was somewhat startled, dropped the snake, and as I swung the camera back up in place and tried to re-establish focus, the snake took the opportunity to slither off into the bushes. Would have loved to have gotten that coiled-up photo, darn it!!! But happy that I got this ....

I'm not sure of the species (maybe someone can help identify), thinking either a juvenile rat snake, corn snake, or a southern water snake. Non-poisonous, of course.

Appreciate your C&C.


Andrew

Andrew, what a great find.! And very pretty as well. I can't work out the pattern on his back...the way the shadows are casting it looks like he is VERY thin, if not hollow. I might consider a small slice off the top and perhaps a bit of lightening of his eye.

Great work!

Nice catch Andrew, I agree with Glennie about trying to lighten the eye just a smidge. I would guess a Corn Snake but hard to tell. Nice work on the stones to tone them down.

Good picture, Andrew! I might play with a tad (and I mean really a tad) of contrast on the body but I am happy as presented. The contrast will bring to life that catch light (at least that's what I think).

Question: My biology sucks but how do you know that this snake is non-poisonous without knowing what snake this is? Coz if I were you, I would think five times to pick up a snake I don't know like that. Haha.

Adhika: I've always liked snakes, used to catch the occasional snake when I was a kid, had a small boa constrictor growing up, and always got called to catch ones my neighborhood before folks panicked and killed them unnecessarily. For US, easy to identify the poisonous ones. But the non-poisonous one will still bite, and the bigger snakes have some pretty sharp teeth ......

AP

Great catch! Wonderful focus on the head and pleasing focus falloff behind. They can move fast, can't they?? Agree to a tad off the top.

Out here in the Wild West and back into the Midwest, poisonous snakes reliably have triangular heads, wide just before the "neck" -- i.e rattlesnakes, copperheads and water moccasins. Not sure about Back East, coral snakes and the like. This one looks pretty harmless but I'd hate to be wrong...

I got in trouble once for bringing a garter snake to school when I was in about the third grade. My parents couldn't see what the problem was -- it was for a science class. I had brought a tarantula several months before. (Caught them both myself.)