Snake in the Leaves
Uploaded: October 18, 2011
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At the weekend "Meetup" of the Delaware Valley Photo Friends at Tyler State Park in Newtown, PA.
The group's leader (wearing his trademark blue glove) cornered a young garter snake against a stone wall to give the group an opportunity to shoot him for several minutes.
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It was really difficult--a dark spot with a nervous, rapidly moving snake, but I managed to get one shot that had possibilities. Cropped it majorly. Then applied various Nik filters to sharpen and add contrast. Also, some of the leaves were curled and white on the reverse side. The white was distracting, so used some of the other leaves to clone color and texture onto the white areas. Dodged and burned some areas too.
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Will post the uncropped, unedited version in the discussion area.
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Exif: F Number: 14, Exposure Bias Value: 0.00, ExposureTime: 1/20 seconds, Flash: fired, compulsory flash mode, ISO: 800, White balance: Auto white balance, FocalLength: 270.00 mm, Model: Canon EOS 7D
Michelle Alton October 18, 2011
_______________Untouched Original. #1416196
Mary K. Robison October 18, 2011
The magic of editing! Beautiful result from your Digital Darkroom work, Michelle. #9742102Jeff Robinson October 18, 2011
Excellent color tones and wildlife capture Michelle! #9742127Gord MacEachern October 18, 2011
You ended up with a wonderful image Michelle, super work here!! #9742137Alan L. Borror October 18, 2011
Wonderful capture and great DD work, Michelle! #9742158Jyri Vissak October 18, 2011
Well seen and captured. Great timing! #9742196R. J. Laudenbacher October 18, 2011
Okay...so this makes me want to go out tromping through the leaves!...NOT!!!!!! :) Such a wonderful shot Michelle and even better DD work to really make it pop from the leaves. #9742266Karen E. Michaels October 18, 2011
you got the shot and made it work, Brava.Danny B. Head October 18, 2011
Great work getting the original image to this outstanding outcome! #9742346Agnes Fegan October 18, 2011
Wow...amazing results on this one Michelle! #9742415Monnie Ryan October 18, 2011
You did a great job on this one, Michelle! #9742453Millie A. Talarico October 18, 2011
Amazing work, Michelle! #9742461Robert R. Goodman October 18, 2011
Hi Michelle,Beautiful treatment.Great work on this image.Looks like a friendly snake,the ones we have out here like to Rattle!!!!! #9742508Jack Ryan October 18, 2011
Great find...excellent image. Well done. #9742509Renata Gusciora October 18, 2011
Great find and fantastic shot,Michelle!Nice colors,tones and treatments! #9742551Jack Gaskin October 18, 2011
WAY TO WORK IT !!!Jack #9742682
Mitch Spence October 18, 2011
You did a really nice job with this, Michelle. I know about the whiteness of some of the downed leaves like this. And I know it can be tedious to fix, but you did it. And when you have no option to reach in there and fix it beforehand, well . . . I think the snake would have thoroughly disputed its territory had you tried that! #9742817Gregory R. Gaskin October 18, 2011
Great Photoshop work and a pretty cool snake photo. #9742936David Hurt October 18, 2011
Well done Michelle. #9742949Ann Coates October 18, 2011
You did a fantastic job with your editing here Michelle. Fantastic find and capture. #9742952Mike Clime October 18, 2011
Still way to close for me even if it is a garter snake. Nice work on fixing it up, Michelle! #9743033Joannie Bertucci October 18, 2011
Michelle, is a snake in the leaves worse than a snake in the grass? :-) You did an excellent job of editing, he looks very sinister! #9743088David Phalen October 18, 2011
Congratulations Michelle this one amazing "rescue" job!! #9743145Val Feldman October 18, 2011
How you got "from there to here" is a true testimony of your amazing knowledge of editing and the various software programs and also your very keen eye for the aesthetic details. Incredible job, Michelle. Bravo! #9743264Kerry Hill October 18, 2011
Fabulous work Michelle! #9743313John Connolly October 18, 2011
You get a big "E" for effort here Michelle! What a great wildlife capture and presentation! A job well done! #9743365Brett Dolsen October 18, 2011
Great DD Work and wildlife capture under difficult conditions Michelle!! #9743414Terry Cervi October 18, 2011
You did some extensive DD work on this, Michelle, but I think it was well worth your effort! I really like the result! Very nicely done! #9743443Barbara Waldoch October 18, 2011
Terrific job, Michelle! #9743471Carol L. Fowler October 18, 2011
Love the snake capture- great with the fall colors #9743555Patricia A. Casey October 18, 2011
Wonderful! I happen to like snakes....cool capture, Michelle....nice editing job from the original.....Cheers =^..^= #9743604Heather Loewenhardt October 18, 2011
Wow not only are you a skilled photographer but also very skilled at the post processing. You made a simple photo rock with all the treatments you applied to bring this one to life. I never would have known all the work it took to make this an excellent image. Thanks for sharing. #9743824Ian M. Hill October 18, 2011
Well done Michelle,and what a difference to the original. #9744554Nadia Paul October 18, 2011
Wow, wonderful capture and great processing Michelle! #9744691Ann H. Belus October 18, 2011
Amazing job of editing on this image, Michelle...love the colors! #9745460Karen L. Swigart October 19, 2011
Amazing job Michelle! The best work are one that you can't tell were edited. I wouldn't have known had I not read your description. The colors and everything is just beautiful! #9747283Emile Abbott October 21, 2011
Both original and cropped version are excellent, Michelle #9752785Christine Lobsinger October 25, 2011
Gorgeous colouring...Marilyn K. Lincecum October 27, 2011
Great shot and great post processing!! Both images are good, but I really like the colors and tones on the edited version. #9766930Sign up for an interactive online photography course to get critiques on your photos.
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