The Garter Snake’s mating ritual, which happens as they leave their winter den, is often described as a ball, with many males trying to be the one who fertilizes the female’s eggs. In this case, the “ball” is pretty small as there were only two males (much smaller) and the one (much larger) female. The female was about 3 feet long and about an inch in diameter, while the males were about 2 feet long and 1/2 inch in diameter. They hung out by my backyard pond for nearly a week, so I got to spend some time over several days photographing them. This is a 9 shot stack to get all three snake’s heads sharp taken from maybe 4 feet away. They showed very little evidence of being sensitive to my presence and the minimal motion made stacking possible. (7D2, 100-400 @ 400 mm, 1/200 s, f/22, iso 800, tripod)
Wow, this is an amazing shot. I didn’t know this is how they mate, and I am so impressed that they would all stay still enough to do a 9 shot stack. Very intriguing with all the textures of the skin, and lovely light and comp.
Hi Mark !
This is very nicely executed, I really like how you managed to capture all the heads up in a great pose and with so much depth !
If you could explain how you stacked up 9 shots, that would be great !
Thanks !
Jagdeep, The stack is made with a series of shots (in this case 9) where each one is focused a tiny bit deeper. There are several software packages that will take the series, figure out which parts are sharp and then meld the sharp parts into a single image. I use Helicon Focus, which is my choice after testing Photoshop and Zerene Stacker. As you might guess none of the three heads were focused at the same time, since I was about 4 feet away with my 400 mm lens.
I echo what Kathy said: Wow . . . . .great photo Mark.
Hi Mark,
No nits from me. Boy, this is very nice and most deserving of an EP. Well done…Jim
This is excellent, Mark. Amazing the snakes were still long enough for a stack! Love the way all three are eye-balling the lens.