Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

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Porter
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Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by Porter »

ImageFlooded Croplands by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageSpeckled Banded Kingsnake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagespeck king by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImagePurplish Sunset by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBurrowing Owl by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageWestern Fence Lizard by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBasking Giant Gartersnake 1 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBasking Giant Gartersnake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageEye of the gigas by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagescarlip4 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagescarlip14a by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagescarlip16 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagescarlip40 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagescarlip68 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageCA Slender Salamander by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageAligator lizard 2016 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageAligator Lizard by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageSharp-tailed Snake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageSharp-tailed Snake tongue flicker by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageSharp-tailed Snake tongue flicker by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageSharp-tongue cross by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageSkunk by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr





To view a separate post of bird photography, click this link: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... 19&t=23869


ImageHawk Highwire by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageHawk Highwire1 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr


ImageObscure Gopher Insitu 2 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageObscure Gopher Insitu 1 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageObscure Gopher Insitu by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagepacific ringneck 2016 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageJackrabbit Mexican Standoff by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagegalithjunebug by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageWestern Side-blotched Lizard by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageJackrabbit by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageJackrabbit by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageJackrabbit by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr





To view a separate post of bird photography, click this link: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... 19&t=23869


ImageBattle of the Kingbirds by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBattle of the Kingbirds by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBattle of the Kingbirds by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBattle of the Kingbirds by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBattle of the Kingbirds by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImagePacman by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageGolden rattler2 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageGolden rattler1 (shakereduction exposure exposurefade vib-20 watermark by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imageart glow rattler g by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imageart glow rattler by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imageart rattler by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageRattler Peace Brotha by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageObscure Rattler by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr





To view a separate post of bird photography, click this link: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... 19&t=23869


ImageRed-tailed Hawk with Gopher Snake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageRed-tailed Hawk with Gopher Snake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageRed-tailed Hawk with Gopher Snake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageRed-tailed Hawk with Gopher Snake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageMorning Bullfrog by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageDelta Kingsnake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageDelta Kingsnake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageDelta Kingsnake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageYellow Jacket a by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageYoung Mud Wasp by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBlackbelly Kingsnake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBlackbelly Kingsnake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageBlackbelly Kingsnake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageAmerican Mink by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageCottontail by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageWestern Pond Turtle Mirror Image by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagefloscent black king by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImagePond turtles by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImagePeriscoping Pond Turtle by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageEl Dorado Hill by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageIn situ El Dorado Kingsnake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageIn situ El Dorado King by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageYoung Buck and the Pups by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageReverse Ladybug2 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageReverse Ladybug by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageReverse Ladybug1 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagebug by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageRainy day spike ball by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

ImageSkipper 2016 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagepraying mantis by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr

Imagefreeway by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by Kelly Mc »

Sublime.
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Porter
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by Porter »

Kelly Mc wrote:Sublime.
Thanks, Kelly. I definitely tried my best to outdo myself for this last year of field herping photography. I'm super stoked with the results :thumb:
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Kelly Mc
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by Kelly Mc »

Yeah I dig the intimacy of your works, and there's an unabashed thing that reminds not to take what is Cali for granted.
MCHerper
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by MCHerper »

Kelly said it all, just beautiful. I admire how much passion can come through a photographer's lens, and your love for the animals shows. Keep up the great work!
Y.Morgan
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by Y.Morgan »

This was my favorite of the 3. The under-chin shot of the garter snake is so cool! I also like the black & white art image of the rattler. But my favorite piece of creativity from all 3 posts is the way you posted the redtail and its gopher snake prey as 2 separate images...what a great idea! It allowed me to appreciate the hawk on its own merit and then scroll down for a dramatic surprise. Thanks for all the work that went into this trio.
york
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by Porter »

Y.Morgan wrote:This was my favorite of the 3. The under-chin shot of the garter snake is so cool! I also like the black & white art image of the rattler. But my favorite piece of creativity from all 3 posts is the way you posted the redtail and its gopher snake prey as 2 separate images...what a great idea! It allowed me to appreciate the hawk on its own merit and then scroll down for a dramatic surprise. Thanks for all the work that went into this trio.
york
Thanks :) The gartersnake in situ session was fun. He too a swim after I originally found him basking on the bank. Then I walked over to a different part of the canal where there's a den. I've photographed a few individuals there and can usually recognize them and have given them names. I didn't see any out. So, I walked balk over to where I was and noticed him climbing up the embankment to bask. So I slowly crept up and laid down next to him within macro range. Then, I just waited and watched 8-) I think the whole sesh took about 45 minutes... I never posed or touched him! The only thing I did was lift one hand in the air and wiggle my figures to get him to flicker his tongue. At one point, he slithered up so close that I had to scoot back because he was blurring the range of DOF :lol: I couldn't adjust my DOF settings because the glare of the sun was darking out my view finder. So, I had to adjust my distance to the snake to get that shot. I think he might have seen the reflection of himself in the lens and was coming up to say hi :lol: Pretty awesome experience :)

That rattlesnake art came out cool. It's actually a fix edit of a shot gone wrong. I was going for a shot with just the scale reflections highlighting the snake. I photoged a gopher snake a year or two before and liked the results. It didn't come out as good as I hoped and the color was completely blown out because of the angle. I still liked the image, so I saved it by adding an art filter of some kind and increased the contrast to completely blacken out the other parts of the snake. It turned out looking a lot better than the phot ever could. Glad you like it :beer:

Here's a shot of that gopher. I really liked the scale shine captured here and was going for something more like this:

Imagegopher_0381watermark by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr




This was another from that day. Same snake. I really like the orbs setteling into the tongue and the chrismas light-esque ness beading on top of the tail. The rattler should have looked more like these

Imagegopherorbshadow watermark 2 by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr




That's exactly what I was going for with that split hawk shot! :thumb: :beer: There's a cool story behind that actually... I was driving out to a spot to go road cruising and saw the Hawk swoop down and take it right off the side of the freeway as I was passing. Snatched from the concrete between the onramp and the slow lane (so the snake most likely would have gotten ran over if not seen by the hawk). This whole year I was thinking, man, wouldn't it be cool to find a hawk and gopher, wrapped up in a battle royale. I've seen some vid of that and someone else from the forum witnessed another sighting, but no vid or pics. So, I had that in the back of my mind all year. When I saw how big the gopher snake was... :shock: :idea: ...I exited the next off ramp, looped around, headed back as fast as I could, exited the turn off, up over the freeway, red light, U-turn, and slowly entered the on ramp where I saw the capture take place. The Hawk was just sitting right there, catching his breath and resting. Snakes head was already gone... So I parked next to him, rolled down the passenger side window, and took those shots from my truck. I had plenty of time to adjust the DOF f/stop and all that...So stoked :thumb:

Here's a shot showing the size of the snake. There's probably at least a good 5 inches missing with the head. That thing looked HUGE getting carried of by that Hawk!

ImageRed-tailed Hawk with Gopher Snake by California Reptile & Amphibian Appreciation, on Flickr
NACairns
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by NACairns »

Beautiful stuff.
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Porter
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by Porter »

MCHerper wrote:Kelly said it all, just beautiful. I admire how much passion can come through a photographer's lens, and your love for the animals shows. Keep up the great work!
NACairns wrote:Beautiful stuff.
This forum and people like you inspired that passion :beer: I honestly would have never taken up the hobby if it weren't for the love that you people have for these things. I had no idea people went out looking for different species, lifers, and photographing them until 2010. I'm actually going to have to put field herping aside for awhile after this year. I hope some of the photographers and knowledgeable herpers come back from facebook and whatnot. This is the pinnacle of field herping and the place that serves as a starting point for new people interested in field herping. You google field herping... you get...field herp forum. Hopefully those people will get back to where they once belonged. I wouldn't have gotten to this level without their commitment and enthusiasm to spark my interest artistically :mrgreen:

Cheers to FHF :beer:
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SurfinHerp
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by SurfinHerp »

Awesome photos Porter! :beer:
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Porter
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by Porter »

SurfinHerp wrote:Awesome photos Porter! :beer:
Thanks man :beer:
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Will Wells
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Re: Herp Photography 2016 - 1/3

Post by Will Wells »

Very nice!
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