There's a small city park near my job in Chesapeake, Virginia. I walk there every weekday. It's pretty heavily used on nice days, like today. I see a lot of snakes, but never a venomous snake, until today. I found this guy just sitting coiled in the middle of the walking path. Kids just a few yards away. No telling how many people just walked right past him. I picked him up with a stick and carried him a little distance and put him someplace I think he won't be a problem. I'd hate to see someone kill him with a stick, or for someone, or a dog, to get bit.

And boy of boy, he was pissy. He was striking and striking on the ground, on the stick, and even when I set him down in the woods.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Micropterus,

Nice pics.

Hell no!!!! I don't do snakes, primarily due to my own ignorance.

panzy, last time i ran across one I grabbed it by the tail, tied it into a knot. I then looped it into a coil, and put it on my saddle horn. Best damn steer rope i have ever had.

If you lived in Florida, I know what the news caption would be with that first photo

The images are superb though!

Good photos, and good on you for moving him.

He's a handsome fellow isn't he? What did you use for the photos?

Jim

 
Very nice photos. Personally, I would find someplace else to walk.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
He's a handsome fellow isn't he? What did you use for the photos?

Jim

Those are just cell phone photos.. Samsung Galaxy S7.

quote:

Those are just cell phone photos.. Samsung Galaxy S7.

Thats no surprise to me, smartphone cameras can snap some excellent quality images, as pictured in this thread. If you don't mind though, can I as if you just used the auto mode for a faster focus or the pro or selective mode? In-camera editing on the spot, or editing on the computer?

Forgive inquisitiveness but, I'm a big fan of smartphone camera technologies and always browsing. Even the last iPhone X that I picked up last, I use a couple of downloaded camera apps for variety like Focos, Prisma, and Halide. All serve different functions and features to further enhance the stock camera app. I really like the Focos lately for tweaking bokeh.

Even I've mentioned in the smartphone thread that some of the earlier iPhone models the camera took superb images like the iPhone 6 and 6S. Just learning to use the camera on the phone can produce amazing images if you play around with the settings

The main interest is that taking the photos of the venomous snakes like that, I just can't imagine taking the eye off the snake and moving the zoom or camera in/out and adjusting focus to get such sharp images as it takes precious little seconds to do so. Additionally, I noticed a difference in the color or exposure of the background rocks, thats why I asked about in-camera editing or post.

In any case, they're excellent images and I'm impressed at your patience and fortitude to snap those.

He appears to be very well fed.

I tweaked the pictures using the "auto" adjustment setting in Google Photos. Other than that, that's it. I used standard auto settings on the phone camera.

The S7 takes excellent pictures and one of the reasons I've not upgraded.

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
He appears to be very well fed.

He seemed very healthy. In the 7 years I've taken afternoon walks in that park, I've come across Ringneck Snakes, Northern Black Racers, Black Rat Snakes, Rough Green Snakes, and Northern Water Snakes. This is the first time I've come across a venomous snake in that park. I have no idea what he is eating, but I agree, he seems to be doing well.

I think that's a girl.

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:
I tweaked the pictures using the "auto" adjustment setting in Google Photos. Other than that, that's it. I used standard auto settings on the phone camera.

The S7 takes excellent pictures and one of the reasons I've not upgraded.

I did check some of the adjustment features in Google Photo's. Is this the "auto-awesome" feature they describe or another version? Seems like a cool feature, especially using HDR that auto combines several shots into one for quality. I see they do have the app for iPhones too.

Agreed about the S7. I honestly can say that so far I've only taken equal quality images after upgraded my iPhone from the 6 or 6S. Newer phone features aside, the camera is about the same in quality.

That first photo is an exceptional image just using the auto settings with the S7 focus-wise!

The trick is: taking pics at max resolution, being close to the subject, having a steady hand, and taking a lot of photos, because only one will be best, and most will have flaws. I actually took about 24 pictures of that snake as it lay in the gravel, and the ones you see were the best. Most had focus flaws. Light conditions were perfect.

I checked my S7 for details on the first photo. These were the settings the phone selected:

Size: 5.93MB
Resolution: 4032 x 2268
Aperture F1.7
Focal Length 4.20mm
Flash: No Flash
White Balance: Auto
ISO: 50
Exposure Time: 1/1014 s

I loaded the pic onto google photos. This is the original image. I either selected Auto or Palma, I don't remember which, then cropped it to something manageable for the forum.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Micropterus,

From start to the finished image as you may already know in post production is your work flow. Your's is well developed and the final image is superb. In first glance, many would have guessed a good dslr/lens combo was used. I'm consolidating my work flow using my iPhone. I've recently like you, have been taking several images at one time, and using the best to edit. But getting that initial image with the best lighting is really critical for me. Basically it's the key to start moving on to editing, filters, cropping, etc.

Smartphone camera technologies have come a long way, and will continue to advance no doubt in the future. You're certainly to be commended for the quality and subject matter of your photos. And surprisingly enough it doesn't take the most recent smartphone camera to yield your kind of results.

The more I snap and experiment with the endless apps and programs for taking and post production editing, the farther I realize have to go. It does take time and practice tweaking the end results to get great image quality, and certainly yours is no exception.

Look forward to more work and images in the future. Thanks for taking the time to share your results!

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:

quote:

Originally posted by rduckwor:
He appears to be very well fed.

He seemed very healthy.....I have no idea what he is eating, but I agree, he seems to be doing well.

Beautiful Copperhead! Good on you for safely moving it! Oddly enough, one of the favorite things these snakes love to eat are cicadas!!! If they're "singing" yet, that may be what this one is feasting on.

The stick was not long enough.

Excellent! Seems well-fed to me...

Beautiful photos and beautiful snake.