A snake in the grass!

[Dylan8i]

So i walked outside tonight and saw a black rat snake (~4 footer) half way in a hole in my moms garden. Since she would kill it, i caught it and moved it to a local more wooded area.... with a photo session inbetween. It was very cooperative, and posed for quite a few pictures, and was not aggressive at all.

heres my fav of the 120 or so i took.... plus one my sister took of me taking pics. (my lense was about 6 inches from its face at a couple times).

[Loupey]

Cool shots and thanks for the story!

Love the first snake shot with the setting sunlight. I see that you're shooting with the snake in your shadow - that light is gorgeous and better to shoot with him/her in the sun.

Also, that position you're in is tough to hold still Next time, lay on your stomach with the full weight of the camera in your left hand. You'll find your left forearm is one sturdy monopod with your elbow on the ground.

[Dylan8i]

Thanks

loupey

.

The first location (my back yard) there wasn't any (much) sun. then when i released him i took a few with the sun and a few with out. i though it might be to harsh though ( i did do some adjustment on that one picture alone to lighten it up some). but it did bring out the colors great as this was a beautifully colored reddish snake.

as far as laying down, i was semi practicing for other snakes (

poisonous

), and with how close i was you can't get out of the way if it charges you. I was bracing both elbows on the ground for the shots though.... i think i was just moving around in that pic.

[Bevb]

Great shots Dylan81 love #4 im not sure id want to lay flat out in front of one of these either, i had the same problems when i came up againt the Adder for the first time, total respect!

[paulnj]

cool images, but come on with that snake hook hahaha

[Dylan8i]

haha paul i know. its jstu the frist snake i've caught since i bought it, so i had to freshen up on using it to prepare for coppperheads while i'm in kentucky ( and kinda prove to my rents that i'm good enough using it) plus its a good thing i had it cause it was 2 feet in the hole when i caught it and used the stick to dig it out.

[paulnj]

I just had to bust your...... Having owned many a snake from AZ mountain kings - retics and mangrove snakes to gaboons, I know the usefullness of a snake hooks

[Dylan8i]

haha yeah i know.... i guess you can see in that picture, but i'm also wearing sandals :-P

[Sushigaijin]

some things to remember about hooking snakes:

easiest way to keep them where you want them is by not using a hook. I try to not even touch them with the hook if I don't need to, the less contact the better. Coppers tend to get flighty when overly harrassed and hot. If they aren't blazing hot yet, they will just sit still and pose for photos anyway, no need for contact or a hook. I use a hook mainly for peeling back artificial cover (AC) without putting my hands in the line of fire. In short, I am suggesting that you let the snake do what it is doing before you try to hook it, you might be pleasantly surprised by their cooperativeness.

Pit vipers are also extremely fast at getting back over themselves, so be exceedingly careful if you plan on tailing any. I personally have a viper no-touch rule, If I can't handle it with a pair of tongs and a hook, or a tong and a tube, I won't mess with it.

Nice shots of a pretty snake. The setting sun looks great.

[Dylan8i]

Thanks Erik,

yeah i donlt really plan on playing with copperheads while doing my field work, but they have caught some in the pitfall traps, and their are apparently tons of them, that may need moved etc so i figured better be safe and get one.

I was very surprised at how red this snake was though, i only saw the last half sticking out of the hole and it was dark black with a line of red dots down its back, the front half was more normally colored... wish i coudl have gotten some more with the natural sun, but my shutter speeds were already high and i though the harsh light/ dark shadows were to much ( should have used the histogram in camera)

[Copy_Kot]

Nice images Dylan, the second image is my favorite from these.