WORLDWIDE PHOTO WEEK: Part 770 - From the Animal Kingdom

Timphoto wrote in post #19257759
Thanks! He seems to be happy here. He and Sunny have become good friends.

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Yes, he does like to roll around in the pasture, but Sunny has made it clear that they will be "friends without benefits."

LoLz

Meet Rosy, our friend's new addition to his family

joayne wrote in post #19257585
Of course, some different thinking from you, Look

See what happens when you ask for creative interpretations?

I got some regular live-animal shots today. The neighbors' chicks don't look much like babies anymore. I took them some fresh grass as their modeling fee.

OhLook wrote in post #19257967
See what happens when you ask for creative interpretations?

I got some regular live-animal shots today. The neighbors' chicks don't look much like babies anymore. I took them some fresh grass as their modeling fee.

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Some lovely Chickens ..I like their “spats”.

Spotted on a sidewalk yesterday after the storms had cleared.

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RhodyPhotos wrote in post #19258022
Spotted on a sidewalk yesterday after the storms had cleared.

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No rain here...
Here it would have fried on the sidewalk!!

A Japanese White-eye enjoying the colorful flowers.

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joayne wrote in post #19258164
No rain here...
Here it would have fried on the sidewalk!!

Been reading about it. This is quite an environmental disaster - for all living creatures.

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Hoary Marmots!

I went up to the mountains again yesterday morning to photograph these guys. . It's pretty east to find these two, as I have seen them each of the 4 times I have gone to this spot over the past month. . One of the things I am really after when I go for Hoary Marmots is two Marmots in the same frame, interacting with each other, but on the same plane of focus so that I can blur the background totally out. . There's no interesting or cute interaction between these two in this shot, but at least I was able to get them near each other, in the same frame.

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And this is how I spent yesterday evening; with a Rattlesnake. . Here in Washington state, we only have one species of Rattlesnake, the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, a.k.a. Crotalus opreganus. . Compare that to Arizona, which has 13 different species of Rattlers!

This guy was so chill that I couldn't get him to rattle at me, nor could I get him to get up into an aggressive posture.

One of the challenges photographing snakes, or anything small, is depth of field. . Of course I want the entire snake in perfect focus, to show all of the scales clearly. . But to do that when they're in this position, I would have to go up to f22, or back up/zoom out so that the snake is smaller in the frame. . But if I do that, then the background gets choppy and distracting instead of creamy and smooth. . A tilt/shift lens would help with this problem, but using them properly means some time spent setting them up and adjusting them properly for each shot, and with wild critters there usually isn't that much time. . And so I compromise and get some of the snake out of focus, in order to achieve a decent background blur.

Note the small "hole" right below his eye. . This is the pit that is the reason behind them being called "pit vipers". . They sense heat through these pits, which allows them to better detect when prey (or a threat) is near.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19258532
I was hoping that after scrutinizing me, he would realize that I was no threat, and then come up out of the rocks and go about his business as usual, which would have provided some wonderful opportunities for photos. . Instead, after 3 or 4 minutes of eyeing me up, he decided to get away from me, and all I could get was this shot as he came clear of the rocks for a moment during his hasty retreat.

I realize that it could take years of trying, and several dozen trips up into the alpine, before I get the kind of photos that I want of a big dominant male Marmot.

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The photo you got is more than most people would get. That doesn't help, because your ambitions are so exacting. Maybe wearing a hooded jacket the same color(s) as the rocks would help, or the same color(s) as a female marmot.

Tom Reichner wrote in post #19258548
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And this is how I spent yesterday evening; with a Rattlesnake. . Here in Washington state, we only have one species of Rattlesnake, the Northern Pacific Rattlesnake, a.k.a. Crotalus opreganus. . Compare that to Arizona, which has 13 different species of Rattlers!

This guy was so chill that I couldn't get him to rattle at me, nor could I get him to get up into an aggressive posture.

One of the challenges photographing snakes, or anything small, is depth of field. . Of course I want the entire snake in perfect focus, to show all of the scales clearly. . But to do that when they're in this position, I would have to go up to f22, or back up/zoom out so that the snake is smaller in the frame. . But if I do that, then the background gets choppy and distracting instead of creamy and smooth. . A tilt/shift lens would help with this problem, but using them properly means some time spent setting them up and adjusting them properly for each shot, and with wild critters there usually isn't that much time. . And so I compromise and get some of the snake out of focus, in order to achieve a decent background blur.

Note the small "hole" right below his eye. . This is the pit that is the reason behind them being called "pit vipers". . They sense heat through these pits, which allows them to better detect when prey (or a threat) is near.

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I am finding that photographing snakes has caused me to rethink one of the primary "rules" of wildlife photography - that of getting down at eye level to the subject. . When I do that with snakes, I get the side of them in the photo ... but the top of their body is normally the best looking view, as the pattern of the scales is usually better looking along the top. . So I have been learning to break my eye level habit and take some top down images when I find a cooperative snake.

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I hope you're up at another level .. say a rock or two up as 100mm is pretty close to that fellow!
Love the Marmots. As for not preforming for you, I think they are cute enough as they are!

Are you in Eastern WA Tom? I usually spend August in WA around Seattle. I don't get beyond the Cascades all that often as I'm trying to escape the heat!

joayne wrote in post #19258575
I hope you're up at another level .. say a rock or two up as 100mm is pretty close to that fellow!
Love the Marmots. As for not preforming for you, I think they are cute enough as they are!

Are you in Eastern WA Tom? I usually spend August in WA around Seattle. I don't get beyond the Cascades all that often as I'm trying to escape the heat!

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Yes, Joayne, I am in eastern Washington. . I am in the town of Okanogan, pretty much in the middle of Okanogan County, about 50 miles south of the Canadian border.

If you want to avoid the heat, don't come here in May, June, July, August, or September. . Here's the extended forecast for my area:

OhLook wrote in post #19258563
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The photo you got is more than most people would get. That doesn't help, because your ambitions are so exacting. Maybe wearing a hooded jacket the same color(s) as the rocks would help, or the same color(s) as a female marmot.
.

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Oh, dressing up like a female Marmot and maybe spraying female Marmot scent on me ..... can you imagine! . Ha!


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Tom Reichner wrote in post #19258578
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Yes, Joayne, I am in eastern Washington. . I am in the town of Okanogan, pretty much in the middle of Okanogan County, about 50 miles south of the Canadian border.

If you want to avoid the heat, don't come here in May, June, July, August, or September. . Here's the extended forecast for my area:

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And the previous couple weeks were even worse:

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Well we hit 120° yesterday. Our record is 124° from 2 years ago. Thank goodness it will only be 115° (forecast) for today.
Yeah, I understand hot.. and that's why I go out to the islands or stay in the Cascades!

Broke the record in Death Valley yesterday... The record was 134°, yesterday hit 135°