Juvenile Black Racer Snake

[matman4u]

This little snake was about 1 foot long total. He only stayed still for about 30 seconds and then fled for safety.

[Donald]

Great detail on the head in the first image. The quick fall-off in focus concentrates attention on the head, but I wondered if the fall-off was so rapid and so pronounced that it actually became a bit of a distraction in its own right. Interested to hear what you and others feel about that.

[matman4u]

Thank you Donald. I usually try a few different aperture settings to vary the depth of field. Then see which one worked the best. In this situation, like so many other times when photographing wildlife, I only got a few shots before he was gone.

[Geoff F]

The aperture of F9 is perhaps a little wider that I would have preferred. But you already have a high Iso and I wouldn't want to reduce the shutter speed either.

But you have the important area, it's head, perfectly sharp.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Matt,

Nice capture.

I see what Donald means and wondered about a 16:9-ish crop, taking the top off the shot where the body turns vertical to the edge - this removes the most oof part.

Cheers,