If you thought photographing young children was challenging, then try taking a picture of a snake or other slimy creature. If you are looking to make it big in the world of wildlife photography, then taking aim at unpredictable reptiles is something you will need to master very quickly.
The subject of shooting snakes came up during a recent trip to my local Sears Portrait Studio. The guy trying to get my 6-year-old to smile for the camera shared a story of his latest freelance gig: taking pictures of a serpent and his owner.
The snake was the photo subject’s “pet” and he hired the Sears guy to shoot a series of shots, so that he could add them to a website he was designing. Personally, you couldn’t pay me to take photos of an uncaged snake, but the Sears guy apparently was up for the challenge. Fortunately, he had experience dealing with snakes while in college, so he knew that they don’t like the cold and would react negatively if they felt threatened or harassed.
According to the Sears photographer he used a DSLR with a range of lenses, such as 105mm macro, 180 and 200mm or a 70-300mm. He also set his shutter speed at about 1/125th, so the snake didn’t appear fuzzy around the edges. Shooting off a tripod also helped, as did disabling his camera’s flash. Bright and sudden light from a camera can frighten a snake, so it’s best to eliminate the flash all together. If you are forced to use flash, be sure it doesn’t reflect directly off the serpent’s eyes.
In regards to composition, the best picture is going to be of the snake’s head with his tongue flickering. If possible, try to take your photos from the snake’s eye level, but use your camera’s zoom to avoid having to get too close to the serpent. A coiled snake also makes for an eye-catching shot, but I wouldn’t risk injury to capture the image.
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