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M38A1
10-20-2009, 04:08 PM
I was walking past a holly bush in front of the house this afternoon and I thought I saw something unusual on top. By the time I shouldered the camera, he moved down a foot or so and was inside the bush. I'm fairly pleased with how this turned out, but don't tell the wife he's in there. :lol2:

Comment & Critique welcome!

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg237/M38A1_bucket/Photography/BushSnake007_sm1.jpg
sharkey
10-20-2009, 04:15 PM
Dang, that is a sharp picture with good composition. Well Done.
kurt
10-20-2009, 04:24 PM
I would have captured the moment with a 12 gauge shotgun. They are all copperbandedrattlemouthedcottonmoccasins until they are dead, dead, dead.
poser
10-20-2009, 04:35 PM
wow! great shot very crisp
did you take that with your D40? Or have you upgraded already and I missed it?
DaveC
10-20-2009, 04:36 PM
some one doesn't care for snakes..



:lol2:


BTW that is a nice shot, just caught the tip of its tongue too.
Wes
10-20-2009, 04:45 PM
Forget shutter click, I vote for the hammer click. I would have squealed like a girl all the way to my gun. :eek2:
ed29
10-20-2009, 04:58 PM
Ahh glad to see that you only shot him/her with the camera. Harmless to humans beyond the startle factor. Frogs and toads have good reason to fear!
Tracker
10-20-2009, 04:58 PM
Great pic. Thanks for saving the rat killer.
M38A1
10-20-2009, 05:55 PM
did you take that with your D40? Or have you upgraded already and I missed it?

No, still have the D40x and 18-200VR. Here's the EXIF data on the shot. I think if I had the D90 body I could have fixed the focus point a bit more precise. As it was for this, his whole nose filled the center focus bracket. The D90 has 11 focus points compared to the three of the D40 series.

Nikon D40X
2009/10/20 14:43:35.3
JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: Large (3872 x 2592)
Color
Lens: VR 18-200mm F/3.5-5.6 G
Focal Length: 200mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Center-Weighted
1/60 sec - F/8
Exposure Comp.: +0.7 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Optimize Image: Custom
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A
Flash Sync Mode: Front Curtain
Flash Mode: Built-in, i-TTL-BL
Auto Flash Comp: 0 EV
Color Mode: Mode IIIa (sRGB)
Tone Comp.: Auto
Hue Adjustment: +3°
Saturation: Enhanced
Sharpening: High
Image Comment:
Long Exposure NR: Off
VR Control: On
High ISO NR: Off
Janet
10-20-2009, 05:58 PM
Great shot! I love it!
Gilk51
10-20-2009, 10:23 PM
Great shot! I love it!

+1 :thumb:

rat snake? I don't know my snake facials... :roll:
M38A1
10-20-2009, 10:26 PM
+1 :thumb:

rat snake? I don't know my snake facials... :roll:

I have no idea other than he was about 15" long and the thickness of your pointer-finger. Cute guy with a red and black tongue of which I captured a few shots with it out. I saw him later in the afternoon moving to another bush. I guess he likes those opaque gecko's that hang out under the garage light.

.
dixonduke
10-20-2009, 10:34 PM
Well Done! Excellent Capture. But I have to say I a concur with Kurt and Wes.
NPHLYT
10-20-2009, 11:25 PM
I find them in my house occasionally, though tiny baby ones. The last one was caught in a spider web under my breakfast table (I let the wife have it over that! Haha). Leave the little guy be, he eats those pesky geckos and froggys, and when they get bigger they take care of little rats and full grown mice.

By the way, how did you get him to smile for the camera?
ed29
10-21-2009, 05:17 AM
+1 :thumb:

rat snake? I don't know my snake facials... :roll:

Checkered garter snake is more likely. Rat snake heads are more triangular, and this little one has stripes under the eyes.
RedPill
10-21-2009, 07:12 AM
Looks like a garter snake to me, too. We used to keep a piece of plywood on the ground in the back yard every spring to catch them. The boys would keep them for a few days, then turn them loose again. Completely harmless, but no fun to find with the lawnmower. (No fun for the snake, either.)
ItchyBob
10-21-2009, 10:14 AM
Looks like a garter snake to me.

Yep.
Windsor
10-21-2009, 04:07 PM
pretty little snake, good photo.

Here's one I found on a shrub at the edge of my patio a few years ago:
http://www.talgas.com/pics/personal/home/patio-snake.jpg
BexarWolf
10-21-2009, 05:48 PM
Great shot!!

I have a funny snake story. About 3 years ago, I was walking around the side of the house and I see a snake coiled up by the fence. It was marked exactly like a copperhead. I called the local animal control and the lady tells me "oh, we don't have copperheads around here. Does it have what looks like a horn on it's nose?" Yeah, it did and it was a horned-nosed snake. Harmless, yes?

She tells me I can just capture it with a stick and chunk it in the greenbelt (I was worried my dogs would get to it if it got in the backyard). I'm not a huge fan of snakes but if I know it's not poisonous, I don't worry too much about them.

I go around the corner and get a nice forked stick close to it's head and hear this HHHHIIIIIIISSSSSSSS with a wide open mouth!!!! I called the lady back and told her, "you didn't say anything about the *** HISSING at me!!!!"

She laughed and said he'd hiss at me and if I actually caught it, he'd probably poop on me too. It was their defense mechanism. Lucky for me and him, he was gone by the time I got back around the side of the house.

I sent the pic to a snake website and the guy running it said he'd never seen a horn-nosed snake colored just like a copperhead and was impressed. If I could find the pic, I'd post it up here.
Windsor
10-21-2009, 06:16 PM
hog-nosed snake, perhaps?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Heterodon_nasicus.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3246/2948794091_1d51cf45e5.jpg

They'll play dead if you ignore their aggression, too.
BexarWolf
10-21-2009, 06:55 PM
hog-nosed snake, perhaps?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Heterodon_nasicus.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3246/2948794091_1d51cf45e5.jpg

They'll play dead if you ignore their aggression, too.

Ahhhh, si! Maybe it was hog-nosed. All I know is he spooked me. LoL :eek2:
BlazerRalph
10-21-2009, 07:42 PM
Tom Tynan says "round pupil" is non-venomous, I still trying to check the pupils on the coral snakes I see in my backyard.
quidni
10-21-2009, 10:23 PM
Forget shutter click, I vote for the hammer click. I would have squealed like a girl all the way to my gun. :eek2:

:lol2: Many, many years ago this girl used to take a pet bull snake to class with me in college....
M38A1
10-21-2009, 10:50 PM
Here's one to give you an idea of the scale. The only thing done is resized to 800pixels wide. Oh, and he's sticking his tongue out at us! I think I know why he likes the area.... I saw some itty-bitty baby frogs out tonight smaller than the size of a dime.

Mmmm..... Frog. It's what's for dinner.

http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg237/M38A1_bucket/Photography/BushSnake005_sm.jpg

.
Windsor
10-21-2009, 11:39 PM
Ahhhh, si! Maybe it was hog-nosed. All I know is he spooked me. LoL :eek2:

Yeah, they act all aggressive and nasty, but the two I've encountered never actually bit me.

Some can flare their upper body to look like a cobra (and the black ones are pretty convincing about it).

http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/images/wildlife/hognose.jpg

Chances are good if you charged, it would fall over "dead". :rofl:
Brotha J
10-27-2009, 03:35 PM
pretty little snake, good photo.

Here's one I found on a shrub at the edge of my patio a few years ago:
http://www.talgas.com/pics/personal/home/patio-snake.jpg

Now that's a rat snake.