Finally getting to the cottonmouths...

[Sushigaijin]

OK, I went a bit overboard with the cottonmouth pictures, I seem to have over 250 of them...I'm finally getting through the first batch from a juvinile pair found basking at a wet section of La Rue Pine Hills. Here's a couple keepers.

Baby cottonmouths Agkistrodon Piscivorous use the vibrant yellow tip of their tail to lure small animals in close enough to strike. As the snakes mature, the coloration of the whole animal fades to a dark brownish black.

I would like C+C on the first image if possible, I used some PP techniques that I am still gaining familiarity with, so I'd like to know how I did. I'll tell you why afterwords, so that I don't fix the vote.




And here is one i took for fun...I cut a whole in the bottom of a small bucket for my camera lens to fit snuggly through, the idea being that I could take wide angle macros of baby cottonmouths and get within the 10 or so inches of the big ones so I could use the close-up lens. Think of it as a shield for my hands. The distortion is kind of interesting, although I am not sure I prefer it to telephoto.



Erik.

[quetzal]

Very nice pics, and I think the first one looks great.

[paulnj]

I rarely see these being from NJ, but not from lack of trying

These are some great images you have here! I especially like the last pose.

[Loupey]

That first shot is sweet :thumbsup:

I can see that you spent a good deal of time PPing it compared to the others. I'm not sure I can figure out what you did at this low of a resolution. Did you open up the shadows with the highlights/shadow feature? I get a hint of digital noise in the shadows as if you did.

The highlights in the foreground rocks are a little bright for my taste. But the cottonmouth itself is nicely done. Good enough that I could reach out and touch it.

[Dylan8i]

the first one looks like the head coloration is ok, but the body is very very flat in coloration. the pose and stuff don't especially grab me but it is an ok position.

[Sushigaijin]

Thanks, I appreciate the C+C.

The first image recieved a bit of contrast mask, which is something that I have been working with to get better dynamic range. I think the noise is from resize/USM/compression. I see the hot highlights in the foreground, but I was more concerned that the contrast was too high...it's tough to guage stuff like that without a peanut gallery to offer insight. The colors are flat because the animal's colors were pretty flat...it was one of the ugliest cottons we saw, but posed nicely for us :-)

I did use contrast mask on the other two images too...so the question was loaded; you would either notice it in all three, or else I did an OK job. I guess it's back to the drawing board to cool off the highlights, but I'm glad that contrast and dynamic range were not criticisms.



Erik.