Red Rat Snake

Gallery: WildlifePosted April 4, 2012438 views9 comments

Hey guys, been a while. I have been super busy with art shows. I never got to post as many from this series as I wanted but I am happy to say my Meet Your Neighbours images will be displayed in Everglades National Park this May. I started a Kickstarter http://kck.st/HHdjNk to help offset costs since it is a educational display.

Anyways, this was a very cooperative Red Rat(as most are) and I was able to get him posed nicely on this palmetto leaf. This is done in the field with a backlit plexi sheet and usually allows the animal to be sent back on its way in under 10 minutes. Some of my earlier images show the animal nicely but seem a bit stale so I have been trying to incorporate a bit more habitat where possible.

I know it isn't for everyone's taste but I have loved creating images for this project.

Canon 5d2, Tamron 180 macro, 580 front flash, 1/2 power with lumiquest III diffuser, 430 remotely fired behind plexi sheet, full power. f16, 1/200s, iso 100

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Max Waugh on April 4, 2012 at 10:06 PM

Paul, this is a nice setup. I like the concept and the inclusion of the leaf really adds something. It may be my imagination, but the contrast seemed slightly muted on my screen. Perhaps that's intentional, but I keep expecting this to pop a bit more.

Congrats on the display!

Max

Registered on September 26, 2008, 428 Posts, 2329 Comments

Comment posted by Tonia Graves on April 4, 2012 at 11:28 PM

This is a nice set-up shot. I really like the snake's loose pose on the palmetto leaf as well as the contrasting colors. Personally I might like to see natural habitat in the background but it sounds like this was for a specific project. Nice work!

Registered on October 29, 2011, 92 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on April 5, 2012 at 1:42 AM

Gorgeous snake Paul. I think you've rendered him very well. All the focus is on the snake with just a minimum of support literally and figuratively. I like this complementary image to the one you did for Pop Photo. Nice to see how you visualize things for this particular project. Do you have a website where more Neighbors can be seen?

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments

Comment posted by Stuart Williams on April 5, 2012 at 4:09 AM

nice portrait of this snake. well done.

Registered on December 7, 2007, 247 Posts, 4792 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Marcellini on April 5, 2012 at 6:55 AM

Thanks for the comments!

Max, I did give it some midtone contrast but it looks good on my screen, maybe I need to calibrate.

Peter, my work for the project is here: http://www.paulmarcellini.com/gallery/meetyourneighbours/ and the main site for the work is http://meetyourneighbours.net/

Registered on November 27, 2007, 250 Posts, 2468 Comments

Comment posted by Richard Teller on April 5, 2012 at 9:08 AM

Nice image and great color in the snake against the high key background. The only nit I might have is if there were a little more room between the head and the edge of the frame and a little less between the tail and the edge of the frame.

Registered on August 23, 2010, 1162 Posts, 6692 Comments

Comment posted by Neal Cooper on April 5, 2012 at 11:49 AM

Paul, I like what you created here. The sane is nicely offset against the plain BG. The colors and the leaf work well with your chased composition.

Registered on June 3, 2009, 144 Posts, 306 Comments

Comment posted by Vincent Grafhorst on April 5, 2012 at 2:33 PM

Very artistic Paul! It is a beautiful snake and the composition with that leaf is very well thought out. I actually like it, even though it is not my taste (if that makes sense

) It does look more like a studio shot, so knowing you made this in the field makes me appreciate it more. Good luck with the display, wish I could come and see it for myself.

Registered on February 24, 2006, 504 Posts, 7203 Comments

Comment posted by Gorazd Golob on April 13, 2012 at 5:33 PM

I like the idea and execution. Great colors.

Regards, Gorazd

Registered on December 28, 2010, 23 Posts, 53 Comments