Cottonmouth Mug Shot
by Joe James
When most people in the Southern U.S. see a brown colored snake in or near the water they assume it's the dreaded cottonmouth snake, also known as a water moccasin. Most of the time however, they are really looking at the far more numerous and perfectly harmless banded water snake. Another misconception is that true cottonmouth snakes are aggressive. This couldn't be further from the truth, you almost have to step on one or try to pick one up to get it to strike.
We found this guy sunning himself one morning on the trail at Viera wetlands not far from our home. Typical of a cottonmouth, he neither attempted to flee nor acted aggressively. As long as I kept a respectful distance of 10 feet or so he just ignored me, allowing me to get down to his level for this mug shot. If only he had been flicking his tongue but it was a bit chilly so he was more interested in getting some sun.
Far from being a uniform brown, when viewed in good light and from up close, cottonmouths have a wonderful mix of patterns and color shades that I find quite striking.
Thanks for looking and any comments are always appreciated. In hindsight I should have dropped the F-Stop a bit and increased the shutter speed to compensate for the bright light. Might have made the BG a bit more appealing. Cheers!
Canon EOS 7D
Canon 100-400 @ 360
ISO 500, F22, 1/320 sec
Comments
7 commentsIn spite of what you say, I do not think I would not wish to get this close!
I think the F stop has worked against you here, I know the 100-400 dies not have a very good reputation for sharpness, but opening up would have brought the added benefit of a faster shutter speed, the large version looks to my eyes to have a very slight movement blur in the head
The we bit of movement blur might have been me, even with IS it can only do so much. Even though my rational brain says these are real mellow snakes my irrational brain says "you are crazy lying on your belly ten feet from a cottonmouth!" They really are mellow snakes and it was a chilly morning so he was only interested in soaking up some rays. It really would be crazy to pull that stunt with an eastern diamondback, they can get a bit cranky. Thanks for verifying what I thought about the F-Stop and shutter speed, I still tend to get too caught up in the moment and focus too much on angle and composition and get sloppy with the technical stuff.
I especially like these detailed patterns/markings seen so well here
I find the tongue action aspect of snake shots very difficult. The more relaxed they are when your present, the less you will see the tongue. Unless you catch them on the move or you are pocking them with a stick in one hand and holding the camera in the other, it is just a matter of luck and good timing.
This is a first rate image in all respects of a beautiful subject,
Well Done . . .