A few turtles and snakes......

[quetzal]

These are some of my attempts at photographing reptiles in the wild this past summer:

Garter snake, taken at a local park. He was in some leaf litter behind some thick bushes and hard to get at. I found a small opening and was able to zoom in to get this shot:


Snapping turtle, taken at a small pond near my house:


Took this one at a park near a stream, first time I ever came across one of these. I think its a Queen snake. I picked it up to get a closer look at it and also set it where I could get a better shot but I only managed a few before it took off. Not that great a shot either, the lighting was pretty bad. I used flash on a couple shots but it seemed too bright:


And two of a northern water snake, taken down by the creek near my house:

[quetzal]

And one more of a young painted turtle that I found little over a month ago:

[Loupey]

I really like the 3rd (middle) one. Your composition is great and the snake is striking a good pose. Nice lines leading from one corner to the opposite. The mud background and shooting angle works here. The image looks like an illustration or graphics art project. :thumbsup:

Oh, the painted turtle is cute.

[paulnj]

these are some nice images! Wildlife doesn't pose too often, so you did a good job at capturing them before they retreated

[Sushigaijin]

Great in situ shots, always good to see more of my favorite subject matter :-) looks like a whopper of a snapping turtle, and it is indeed a queen snake - they are locally abundant, usually along streams and ponds. Where there is one, there are probably 1000. Try flipping the debris and cover at the edge of the stream to find more, and keep an eye on low overhanging branches. should be able to find some salamanders in the springtime too.


Erik

[quetzal]

Loupey - Well I hadn't really looked at the 3rd pic like that before, I did like the pose of the snake but just thought there was too much glare as I was taking the photos.
The painted turtle is cute isn't he? I wanted to get shots of him more in his natural habitat but he absolutely wouldn't sit still so I carried him to my backyard and set him in the grass and then he just sat there looking around the entire time I took the pics. Painted turtles usually aren't very shy.

Erik - That was quite a huge snapper! And I'd discovered that the area where I found the queen snake seems to be a good place to find reptiles. Looking forward to next spring to go back and do some more snake-hunting.

Thanks for the comments all!

[Loupey]

Loupey - Well I hadn't really looked at the 3rd pic like that before, I did like the pose of the snake but just thought there was too much glare as I was taking the photos.

It would make a cool looking avatar for somebody