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*SNAKE* Senior Member Joined: 16 May 2004 No. of posts: 220  View other posts by *SNAKE* |
Posted: 01 Jun 2004 how close do you have to get to an adder to take pics i dont fancy getting bitten. does anyone know the uxbridge area to find some. PAUL SMITH |
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Wolfgang Wuster Senior Member Joined: 23 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 326  View other posts by Wolfgang Wuster |
Posted: 01 Jun 2004 How close you have to get to take pics depends on your camera and lens - unless you plan to catch it (which incurs a risk of getting bitten unless you know what you are doing, and causes the snake substantial stress), you won't find it easy to get within 2 metres of one, and you would need a telephoto lens to get any sort of decent picture. Adders don't attack, and their strike range is under a foot, so getting bitten by one takes some doing. Cheers, Wolfgang Wolfgang Wüster School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor http://sbsweb.bangor.ac.uk/~bss166/ |
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Tony Phelps Forum Specialist Joined: 09 Mar 2003 No. of posts: 575 View other posts by Tony Phelps |
Posted: 01 Jun 2004 Go early in morning before adders warm up, this time of year 0830-0930 about right. If it has rained during night adders often bask in elevated position, on top of heather, bracken,etc. with the body flattened. This current spate of weather has been excellent for reptiles particularly snakes. If you have not handled adders before, then don't, it will be stressful for both you and the snake. many of my pics are taken within a metre of a snake using a 200mm macro lens, but these tend to be expensive. You do not mention if you are using film or digital, makes a difference. Tony |
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*SNAKE* Senior Member Joined: 16 May 2004 No. of posts: 220 View other posts by *SNAKE* |
Posted: 01 Jun 2004 thanks wolfgang, tony, camera is fujiflim finepix digital. have beautiful pic of young grsss snake pretending to be dead but cant post many thanks. paul PAUL SMITH |
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Tony Phelps Forum Specialist Joined: 09 Mar 2003 No. of posts: 575 View other posts by Tony Phelps |
Posted: 01 Jun 2004 Hi Paul, Well as you know you have that extra magnification, if you do not have tele macro lens stick an ext tube on a 300 0r 400mm, or even a 600mmm- but use a support. Having seen the many fine digi pics here and other places am now finally convinced this is the way to go. However, will keep the trusty Nikon F5 and sell off the F4 and FM2 and also my FD F4 600mm lens. I am looking at Nikon D70 or D100, and will take all my lenses, but they also do a handy 18-200mm which would be useful. It will be good not to worry about film at airports, and now I will not buy that expensive scanner. Tony |
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*SNAKE* Senior Member Joined: 16 May 2004 No. of posts: 220 View other posts by *SNAKE* |
Posted: 02 Jun 2004 thanks tony, my camera dose not take any lenses but it has got a 256mb XD card can take 400 pics in fina pic mode think its time for an SLR dig camera now. ps do you know the uxbridge area. paul PAUL SMITH |
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Tony Phelps Forum Specialist Joined: 09 Mar 2003 No. of posts: 575 View other posts by Tony Phelps |
Posted: 02 Jun 2004 Yes I know Uxbridge, unfortunately I was raised in the armpit of the Uk, namely Slough.However, there were good snake sites around, including adder. I am not going to be specific but there are adder sites at Iver Heath, Black Park, Gerrards + and some more. I am actually working on one of my original sites in the area, my very first adder site, and it has made a wonderful recovery and am looking at it when I can. Tony |
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*SNAKE* Senior Member Joined: 16 May 2004 No. of posts: 220 View other posts by *SNAKE* |
Posted: 02 Jun 2004 many thanks Tony, i know your a specalist in your field of work but can a novis like me tag along for the day to show me what to look for and the kind of area to look in i wont be disappointed if this is not possible many thanks paul PAUL SMITH |
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-LAF Senior Member Joined: 03 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 317 View other posts by -LAF |
Posted: 07 Jun 2004 Another thing to consider is the time of day and year AND who spots who first! Early in the season (March/April) I've found it easy to get nice close pics of male adders that were basking (around 10am) with a short (24-70mm) lens. Spotting them before they spot you seems to be the important factor, Binoculars can make this easy. Get down wind, on the floor and approach slowly and carefully. A cammo jacket may help you keep less conspicuos. You'll see when they get wind of you when their heads go up and the tongue comes out for protracted periods, as they try to figure out what the funny smell is, this doesn't mean that the snake is going to move away now but is your cue to be ultra slow and cautios on your approach. Even though they'll have smelt you, getting 3-4ft away should be quite faesible and should br a perfectly safe distance, rest assured that if you alert the snake to your presence by standing up it will move AWAY not towards you. There is one risk in doing this though, make sure you have a clear approach path. Several times I have nearly crawled onto another snake that I hadn't seen. And on a few occasions I've been laid prone and they've cawled onto me. As a result I've had both jacket and trousers bitten by startled adders I hadn't noticed until it was too late. So far though, they haven't got me and I'm now more careful to keep it that way! Smooth snakes also seem perfectly easy to approach relatively closely without disturbance. Though here I use a 500mm (300mm on EOS D60) or greater telephoto with extension tube(s)to make sure it stays that way. Photography of these is a bit of a legal grey area, so if you can prove that you took the pictures from 10ft away then you're someway to showing you didn't disturb the animal should it be called into question. Grass snakes, however, seem to notice me from around 5 miles away and I've never got close to one out and in situ. I've always found that getting pictures of them for me is an energetic and frequently smelly process! Regards, Lee PS: TONY, not sure if you've got your new digi yet but if not it's worth taking a look at the Fuji Finepix S2 Pro, I've used one a few times and it's a cracking camera that uses Nikon lenses and extras (some probs with older flashes though), and I know a number of Pro's who've chosen these. Worth a look anyway. Lee Fairclough |
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Tony Phelps Forum Specialist Joined: 09 Mar 2003 No. of posts: 575 View other posts by Tony Phelps |
Posted: 07 Jun 2004 Thanks Lee, I'm trying to look at back numbers of 'Outdoor Photography' see if there is a test on the Fuji. There is a test on the Nikon D70 in next issue by Andy Rouse I believe. Regarding approaching clos to our reptiles. Keith Corbett and I always reckoned that wearing a light coloured shirt helped, merged with the sky background, it seemed to work well with sand lizard and also adders, and smooth snakes, well, they just sit there looking at you anyway. If you get a good pic of a grass snake in situ then you deserve a medal, go early in the morning otherwise they are flying! Can't spend all the time crawling about on your tummy Lee, not at my age! Tony |
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