Discovered this impressive Pacific Rattler at 6,000 feet in Forest Falls, Calif. I believe the snake was headed for the creek for a drink, so after taking a lot of shots with my 300MM, I moved on, hoping that this impressive creature was able to accomplish its mission during a drought year.
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I’m sharing it for fun, although the contrast issues have given me pause. The snake was a dusky brown and tan. Wanted to be true to its coloration but also make it pop more. In any case, the menacing posture of the reptile makes this one of my favorite wildlife shots ever.
That snake is so wound up you can just feel it is ready to unleash its lighting fast strike at whatever is threatening it. So much tension in this photo. Great work and thankfully neither you nor the snake were hurt in any way.
James: I confess I don’t care much for snakes which is probably due to my ignorance. This is a great capture. I get the square crop but I would either shift it left a few pixels or widen just a bit to give it some room on the left. Other than that 1 cent nit this is pretty terrific.>=))>
Rally nice capture! Colours look true and definitely all wound up!
While I usually like to see a critter’s eyes, the impressive rattle and pose far outweighs that here. I agree with more room on the left.
Very well-done!
The lighting was not great for this type of image, but the results of your effort are very nice. This is one of those scenes that would benefit from some diffused fill flash. More room on the left will improve the comp. Have you tried using Shadows & Highlights with an adjustment layer followed with Brightness & Contrast adjustment for evening out the contrasty areas? Might be worth a try. I like the pose and the texture of the surrounding rocks. I edited your image with this technique and dodged around the eye to make it more visible. This brought out some of the yellows in the snake…Jim
Much appreciated Bill. This big critter is unforgettable. As an aside, I will tell you that when I entered this in a camera club competition, one of the judges opened his comments with “I’ve never liked snakes.” Made me wonder, would he have given me extra points for a basket of kittens?
