by Howard Cheek
An attractive red-striped subspecies limited to Central Texas. I spotted this snake at ponds edge friday. Later it was in the water, then out again & off.. The 5DM2 was not up to the task for the action water shots.
So I watched it stick out its bright red tongue occasionally as it moved along.. It was mocking me, I have no doubt
F/11, 1/1250th, ISO 500, 5DM2, 300mm f/2.8 + 2x ext. @ 10:47am & clear/sunny/no flash. Shot date 07/31/2015.
Red-striped Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis proximus rubrilineatus) Rossman, 1963. Spanish name: Culebra Cinta Rayas-rojo.
Comments
5 commentsWhich do you prefer, I'm curious. This is from a few seconds later as it moved to the ponds edge..
And here it is just before it entered the water, with reflection.
Order of preferance:1-3-2. (1, because I like the position and pose of the snake). I might crop 1 to create a pano to remove portion of top and the shadow on left underside side of rock on bottom.
I also like the first version the best, Howard. Great pose and comp with the head-on, eye-level view, and the focus is right on the money. Certainly, a vibrant colored reptile, as seen in all views but especially the third.
This is a fine look at this snake, Howard. I'm curious about how you managed to persuade it crawl out on the rock and raise it's head for this perfect pose...
I'll take #1, where the pose and positioning are classic. #3 is a very close second as it shows the searching behavior well, all of the snake in the frame sharp, and the neat addition of the reflection