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Taronga Zoo, a little while back. I didn't have to shoot through glass, there's a barrier around the enclosure that you can view from.

It's a shame about the small branch on the left, but what was I going to do... go in there and move it?? Nah-uh!

Welcome to the forum BT*ist (is that a reference to your gear?)

Thanx for posting this initial image - the snake seems pretty menacing. I think a touch deeper depth of field would have given us a bit more of the snake to enjoy, particularly the texture of its skin.

Look forward to seeing more images from you.

BT*ist
Welcome to the forum! Snake image is well exposed, sharp, and has good composition. It could have been improved with the use of a smaller f/stop, but that can be impossible if you are working in an area where there is very little light. Thanks for posting and sharing!

Welcome BT*ist. I think you have done well with the shot. You have drawn the viewers attention to the business end of this rather menacing snake through a good use of selective focus, but as the Cricketfan and MAtt proffered it would have been interesting to increase the depth of field to see how that changed the image. IMO I think you chose well maybe experimenting with different crops to position the snake's head differently. It's also very important if you try this sort of shot that you are absolutley meticulous about your zone of sharp focus and make sure that the eyes are razor sharp. That often means getting some really good glass. Welcome to the lens lust forum
cheers
marco

Hi and welcome (finally) BT! Good to see you make your first post.

I quite like this image, with the 'pointy end' of the snake drawing the focus of the photo. The only thing, which you identified, I found distracting was the branch and the green grass behind the snake.

Why you didn't go into the enclosure with it to move either the branch/grass or the snake itself is beyond me...

Hey BT*ist and welcome to the forum.

Great starting image - can't go wrong with a beautiful specimen like this. I can't add anything to what has been said already except that the Red-Bellied Black Snake is really shy and very rarely bites, even when it's angry. The same can't be said for its Elapidae cousins (death adder, copperhead, tiger snake, eastern brown, taipan, etc).

So, you probably could have gone in and moved the branch!

Thanks for posting and I look forward to seeing more of your work. Experiment with that depth of field and you'll really have some winners.

nice pic
which lens ?
pentax ? there doesn't appear to be many of us on here

hi and welcome to the forums.
nice image to start with.
shame about the grass but what can you do??
perhaps clone them out with photoshop.

a little more DOF would have been nice also.

Steve

Hi, and thanks all for the welcome!

Big Red, the photo was taken on the 100-300mm Sigma kit lens which my original Pentax MZ-50 SLR came with (at f6.7).

I upgraded to the istDS last year, reasoning that since I was already happy with my lenses and classed myself as an enthusiastic amateur at most, there was no reason to replace everything and start anew. I'm very happy with the camera and am also starting to catch that whole 'lens lust' people around here keep mentioning!

Nice capture BT. Especially for the snakes at Taronga, that outside location sure makes it easy to shoot without glass. Well done. Only suggestion is the same as others, go for a greater depth of field.

BT*ist, this is a very nice capture of the snake, it makes it so adorable, what a great expression. I love reptiles, especially water dragons!

Welcome to the forum, hope to meet you at the mini meets one day. Thanks for sharing.