A few more snakes, this time locals.

[Sushigaijin]

went out to Dupage county, IL on sunday to look for snakes. This area is only about forty minutes west of downtown chicago. To keep the recap short, in two hours we found

10 tiger salamanders
9 Brown snakes
11 garter snakes
4 fox snakes (all neonates)
tmtc green frogs, bullfrogs, and leopard frogs.


Onward to the photography section. I've done a few things that I don't normally do with these shots, if it isn't painfully obvious than I will consider it a success.

[AmberC]

I really like that second one! Great job! :thumbsup:

[Dylan8i]

i know what you did, but it works for them.... just not all in a row like that ;-)

the top two and the bottom one seem pretty centered, and alot of excess on the top.



ps i like placing them on moss, or colorful leaves cause it adds more color and makes the pics seem not so dark. although it depends on the size of the critter.

[Sushigaijin]

i know what you did, but it works for them.... just not all in a row like that ;-)

the top two and the bottom one seem pretty centered, and alot of excess on the top.



ps i like placing them on moss, or colorful leaves cause it adds more color and makes the pics seem not so dark. although it depends on the size of the critter.

Dylan,

the one third herp/two thirds OOF is occuring in increasing frequency in my shots - although I usually shoot by the numbers, I'm kind of liking the center-focused but thirds balanced formula. I'd shoot it at 28mm, but I am almost never satisfied with the bokeh from a wide lens and I have a thing for telephoto compression. A serious thing.

The out of my usual style that I was refering to is actually in post processing - I watched a fashion photographer burn a full daylight shot so that it looked like it was taken at night, which has me thinking a lot more about controlling my backgrounds and controlling contrast and shadows. These shots came out of the camera well enough for me to post anyway, but I spent a little extra time selectively controling the luminosity in order to isolate and present the subject better. The only one I am reticent about is the fox snake - I'm wondering if I was too heavy handed, or maybe not heavy handed enough!




as far as moss or other backgrounds go, I thought that the RR ties brought these together - they were all found under RR ties, on RR tracks, and the ties were innocuous enough to not distract attention with the small DoF. I think it goes either way - a totally inconspicuous setting, or an amazing fairy-land chunk of colored leaves, moss, lichen, or whatever else you can find.

[Dylan8i]

oh ok i guessed wrong :-(

the rail road ties just seem distracting being in all the shots in a row like that.... to unnatural. the fox snake one looks great, i think you did a good job (although i didn't see the original)

these are the more natural backgrounds i like though (the red eft i didn't move- the northern red i did)

[Loupey]

I think the RR ties work OK because there is not enough of it in any one shot to scream "this is a railroad tie!".

I rarely shoot amphibians or reptiles, but basic composition "rules" apply as it does with any subject. But the few times that I did photograph a snake, I did have a mental breakdown as to what to do with all those coils within the frame of the shot.

I like that last salamander shot. Although the rear foot is clipped, I like the creative wide angle view. Not typical and certainly an eye-grabber.

[hughosborn]

Hey guys, good to see the photos of reptiles on here. I stopped looking in this section after I first came on here cause I remember reading it saying "wildlife and nature photography - especially birds" so I thought only birds were gonna be on here for people to test out their telephoto rather than be interested in the animals. Anyway, I was just wondering what type of lens you guys would recommend for photos of snakes and geckos and other lizards. I have a canon 20D with its kit lens 18 - 55mm. It works but the photos are harder to make appear brilliant. I went out snaking tonight and got a couple of pythons but taking photos of them sort of sucked. Anyway, could you tell me if a bit of telephoto is what you need, or a macro and if so what focal length. Just wanna know how far away you are when you shoot whatever different stuff, how much out focus animal you want, if any, and things like that...ok thanks, better be off. Sorry if I'm stealing this topic, but I have the same interests. I like the photos, must be off it is late.

[big baldo]

Hey guys, good to see the photos of reptiles on here. I stopped looking in this section after I first came on here cause I remember reading it saying "wildlife and nature photography - especially birds" so I thought only birds were gonna be on here for people to test out their telephoto rather than be interested in the animals. Anyway, I was just wondering what type of lens you guys would recommend for photos of snakes and geckos and other lizards. I have a canon 20D with its kit lens 18 - 55mm. It works but the photos are harder to make appear brilliant. I went out snaking tonight and got a couple of pythons but taking photos of them sort of sucked. Anyway, could you tell me if a bit of telephoto is what you need, or a macro and if so what focal length. Just wanna know how far away you are when you shoot whatever different stuff, how much out focus animal you want, if any, and things like that...ok thanks, better be off. Sorry if I'm stealing this topic, but I have the same interests. I like the photos, must be off it is late.

I'm not a big macro expert but an easy way to get some close ups is to use extension tubes.I bought a set and use them quite frequently with my 70-300mm with some pretty good results. With a longer lens and an extension tube, you can get a real good close up from a distance. Read Loupeys sticky thread on extension tubes at the top of this forum and see if that explains it better for you.
I'm excited to see pics of some of your wildlife from over there.

[Loupey]

... I have a canon 20D with its kit lens 18 - 55mm. It works but the photos are harder to make appear brilliant. I went out snaking tonight and got a couple of pythons but taking photos of them sort of sucked...

Could be just in the post processing. Start a new thread with your images and we can take a look at it and make some specific shooting/post processing tips.

[Loupey]

... Anyway, could you tell me if a bit of telephoto is what you need, or a macro and if so what focal length. Just wanna know how far away you are when you shoot whatever different stuff, how much out focus animal you want, if any, and things like that...

There are so many questions in there and each can be answered so many ways

When shooting macros/closeups, you must consider a LOT of things all simultaneously. It is not just about magnification. Just off the top of my head, you've got

1. Angle of view (how much of the background you want to show)
2. Perspective (how much do you want to exaggerate the subject in relation to the background)
3. Subject distance
4. Light levels (do you use IS lenses or tripod)
5. Portability (how much do you want to lug around)
6. and finally, Magnification

I am primarily a macro shooter so it may be odd to hear that I do NOT recommend a dedicated macro lens for field work. Relying on one will paint you into a corner by giving you one combination for the above considerations. I shoot macros with 17mm ultra-wide angles to 600mm super-telephotos and everything in between as the subject and circumstances call for.

Your job is to find the "style" that most often reflects how you shoot. Then gather the specific tools to allow you to get the highest percentage of successful shots dictated by that style.


The short answer is: just about anything will work - but what will work for you.

[Sushigaijin]

the "traditional" macro lens for technical shots of snakes is a 90mm prime - but with today's aps-c sensors, that needs to be more like a 60mm lens. I know a lot of people who have tried to use 100mm macros for snakes and have a hard time because they have to shoot from six feet away to get more than just the snake's head in the frame.

I can't wait to see your local stuff, I haven't been to oz but I do have plans to spend a month there next spring (november, maybe).

[Dylan8i]

alot of snakes etc, especially in Australia will probbably be to big for macros anyways. unless you want a nice tight shot of its head or eye. but like everyone above said, there are many many shots you can get of the same animal with different equipment so it all depends on what you want.... play around with different techniques until you find what you like.

[hughosborn]

Sorry for not writing back, I completely forgot to revisit this thread. Thanks for trying to help me out with the questions. Anyway, most of the photos I get are taken at night because that's when a lot of stuff is active due to the heat during the day and that's when we go out looking for it. I will have to try a harder to get some photos. I am not much of a poster cause I found it really fiddly to get the right sized photos to post on here, eventually I just used facebook to shrink them so they'd fit the 250kb or whatever is and then they looked crap. The other night we hit up Tully and we got some good stuff including a getting-there-in-size 3.5m Scrub Python and a pretty pink tongue lizard.