Don't tread on me

[Dave Goldberg]

• Canon EOS R7
• EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
• ƒ/11
• 100mm
• 32/10s
• ISO 100
• Thu, 06 March 2025 1:35 PM

This fellow is a Eastern Copperhead, the only venomous snake commonly found in Fairfax County, Virginia. People come across them from time to time, but snakebites are rare. He was safely sunning himself in a terrarium at a local nature center, and being nearly motionless I caught him with my macro lens on a tripod at 3.2 seconds at ISO 100. I went through a range of f-stops and I felt f/11 provided the best depth of field for this scene.

Edits on Darktable 5.0 for tone, color, removal of distractions, and retouched to reduce or remove specular highlights.

Canon R7 with EF 100mm f/2.8 macro, 3.2", f/11, ISO 100

 

[Brian Sump]

The level of intimacy, detail and use of dark margin are all quite exceptional for me, Dave.

While I'd love to have this one for my files for sure, the only thing I could see to improve would be to lessen the impact of the brighter strip of body/tail going up and to the right behind the head, just a little.

All around, a beauty!

 

[Dave Pastern]

What a gorgeous snake and stunning portrait mate. Lovely!!!

 

[Jonathan Ashton]

Impressive image, well rendered and pretty much ideal DOF, I think you have the exposure and lighting well controlled, well done.

 

[Steve Kaluski]

Hi Dave, we don't often get snakes posted here and in all honesty it's not s subject I like too much having had an encounter with a Black mamba many moons ago, so I'd rather see them this way, in front of a screen.

You have captured some nice tones and definition within the scales and they do have an almost 3D feel, so the DoF worked out well. Framing wise I find it a bit too close to the foot a bit more room would be better I think, as you don't say it's FF or cropped. The dark vignette could be better applied or another route to achieve the same and perhaps more varied, plus the blocking of the blacks in the darker blacks/shadows when lifted just lifts things overall, but the brighter triangular area top RHS is problematic as it draws the eye.

Obviously you had plenty of time to ratchet your settings to the point where you could get away with ISO100 to deliver zero noise and max detail, but at 3.2sec you just needed the snake to make a fraction of movement, but...

TFS
Steve

 

[Dave Pastern]

Hi Dave, we don't often get snakes posted here and in all honesty it's not s subject I like too much having had an encounter with a Black mamba many moons ago, so I'd rather see them this way, in front of a screen.

<snipped>

TFS
Steve

Oh you think the Black Mamba is bad...try our Australian Inland Taipan, Coastal Taipan and Eastern Brown. Or, Red-bellied Black snake, or King Mulga snake (aka King Brown). All deadlier than the Black Mamba in terms of pure toxicity. I had a run in with what I suspect was an Eastern Brown (2nd most venomous snake in the world) many years ago. It chased myself and my best mate for like 100 metres before we escaped onto the top of a large sand dune.

 

[Dave Goldberg]

While I'd love to have this one for my files for sure, the only thing I could see to improve would be to lessen the impact of the brighter strip of body/tail going up and to the right behind the head, just a little.

Thanks, I had considered doing something about that region... I guess I should have.

You have captured some nice tones and definition within the scales and they do have an almost 3D feel, so the DoF worked out well. Framing wise I find it a bit too close to the foot a bit more room would be better I think, as you don't say it's FF or cropped. The dark vignette could be better applied or another route to achieve the same and perhaps more varied, plus the blocking of the blacks in the darker blacks/shadows when lifted just lifts things overall, but the brighter triangular area top RHS is problematic as it draws the eye.

Thanks Steve. Sorry if this brought back bad memories. I have no issues with snakes, but a black mamba might change my perspective. Still, I was happy to have be separated by a sheet of glass...

I did crop in a bit so I had real estate to work with, but the most problematic area was dealing with the dark spots of its lower body which you can't see because of the vignette. I tried all sorts of things and finally decided to blank it out.

Oh you think the Black Mamba is bad...try our Australian Inland Taipan, Coastal Taipan and Eastern Brown. Or, Red-bellied Black snake, or King Mulga snake (aka King Brown). All deadlier than the Black Mamba in terms of pure toxicity. I had a run in with what I suspect was an Eastern Brown (2nd most venomous snake in the world) many years ago. It chased myself and my best mate for like 100 metres before we escaped onto the top of a large sand dune.

No thanks, although I would love to visit Australia at some point. I'll just stick with copperheads. Less deadly and usually looking to avoid trouble.

 

[Dave Pastern]

No thanks, although I would love to visit Australia at some point. I'll just stick with copperheads. Less deadly and usually looking to avoid trouble.

Our Eastern browns (and the Taipans) are not typically aggressive snakes actually. The tiger and king tiger snakes are. I've come across Eastern browns & red-bellied blacks, both are timid from my personal experiences. The copperheads are GORGEOUS snakes though. It's a shame that we are not allowed to import them into Australia.

 

[Gabriela Plesea]

Dear Dave,

Let me start by saying I like snakes A lot. Have great respect for them. And even though I have had a few rather close encounters with a Puff Adder, a Mozambique Spitting Cobra as well as a Cape Cobra I still love to see and photograph them albeit I do keep my distance if I can help it...

So for me a special image of this Copperhead, I'm a great fan of close-ups with lots of detail so this is right up my alley. Love the colours and tones, perhaps the vignette a tad strong but in all honesty I am not sure I could do better... Nice techs, subject sharp with good detail. For me a fine image with lots to look at, subject indeed gorgeous...Many thanks for sharing, enjoyed viewing, very much.

Kind regards,

Gabriela