Texas Ratsnake

Gallery: WildlifePosted July 26, 20042,650 views8 comments

This is a wild Texas Rasnake from
Bexar county Texas. This species is
common (even in residential neighborhoods)
and is highly arboreal and feeds on birds,
small mammals, and lizards mainly.

Olympus E10 Digital w/ MCON 35 macro adapter
Handheld, 42.7mm, ISO 80, F7.1, 1/125th, built-in
fill flash

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Lee Daniels on July 26, 2004 at 10:59 AM

This is simply spectacular, Joe! Detail, tone, clarity, DOF are all amazing. Your composition has tremendous impact. Couldn't be better!

Registered on December 31, 2003, 115 Posts, 1657 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Graf on July 26, 2004 at 1:48 PM

Not the kind of image I would imagine taking with a macro adapter!

But well done nonetheless!

Registered on November 1, 2003, 39 Posts, 542 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Garber on July 26, 2004 at 4:42 PM

awsume shot! The tongue looks like it was added.

Registered on November 17, 2003, 704 Posts, 3535 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Zimic on July 26, 2004 at 5:26 PM

Wow. This is one of the best rattler pictures I've seen. Great compostion and timing to get the tongue sniffing you out. Great shot.

Registered on November 23, 2003, 176 Posts, 727 Comments

Comment posted by Joseph E. Forks on July 26, 2004 at 5:56 PM

Thanks Guys!

Bill: The tongue takes an arc downward just out of the mouth,
which makes it look funny, but it's not added I assure you
that just what you see is what I saw.

I'll post up one more of this beast in another 48 hours. The next
one will have a shallow DOF and that tongue tack sharp. Pretty neat
shot IMO but I bet I get a few comments about the shallow DOF :)

Best Regards
Joe

Registered on July 23, 2004, 21 Posts, 35 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Bates on July 27, 2004 at 2:00 PM

Joseph...way COOL capture of this strike pose!! Even though rat snakes are not venomous...they are sure spunky!!! (and can bite pretty hard too..LOL) Excellent image!!!!

Michael

Registered on November 1, 2003, 149 Posts, 2381 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Ross on July 29, 2004 at 6:46 PM

This is a great capture, with the snake coiled ready to strike. The only suggestion I have is if there was someway to exclude the flat grey sky.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 403 Posts, 2729 Comments

Comment posted by Marsel van Oosten on July 30, 2004 at 7:22 AM

Great action shot Joseph! (although the greens look very over saturated).

Registered on March 9, 2004, 285 Posts, 2277 Comments