This fellow is a Eastern Copperhead, the only venomous snake commonly found in Fairfax County, Virginia. People come across them from time to time, but snakebites are rare. He was safely sunning himself in a terrarium at a local nature center, and being nearly motionless I caught him with my macro lens on a tripod at 3.2 seconds at ISO 100. I went through a range of f-stops and I felt f/11 provided the best depth of field for this scene.
The photo didn’t require much in the way of processing in Darktable, but I used the colorize module to blot out his body at the bottom which I felt was distracting, and I spent some time cleaning up specular highlights with the retouch module.
I had a lot of fun with this shot, so I figured I would share it with you.
Canon R7 with EF 100mm f/2.8 macro, 3.2", f/11, ISO 100
Certainly the hot pixels module would fix those in darktable if that is the program you are using, but at 100 ISO I wouldn’t expect hot pixels so I wonder if it could be dust on the glass? Great shot by the way.
As far as critiques go, I’d have maybe eased off on the vignette. It looks like it’s coiled on itself and showing a bit more detail there could be nice.
How do you like the R7 paired with the EF 100mm? I have the LAOWA 65mm macro lens right now on my R10. I’ve considered getting the RF 100mm but I’m not sure how different the longer focal length would be. Clearly the image quality from that lens is fantastic.
I don’t have any experience with 65mm macros, but the EF 100mm has excellent optics and a highly responsive auto focus. It also supports R7 focus bracketing, even though Canon doesn’t officially recognize that capability with this lens. The focal length works well for capturing skittish insects and provides reach for reptiles and amphibians. I use it a lot for flower macros, but the only drawback is the standoff distance due to the more limited field of view associated with the R7 crop sensor.
I looked at this on my phone and thought, yeah, that’s cool. But I just put it full screen on my laptop, and its great. The detail is superb and the snake’s eye is amazing!
Thanks, I appreciate that. I didn’t expect the coloration in the copperhead’s eye, it reminds me a bit of the Eye of Sauron. They’re interesting creatures where their beauty serves as a bit of a warning.
