mbb

you caught very interesting moment

... points are very often pointless ... the best photos are those we keep coming back to see them again and again. this is one of them ...

Thanks for all comments.

Heron, yes this is juvenile specimen of Asian Vine Snake (Ahaetulla prasinus), not my pet and yes picture was done in controlled environment if you can only control a snake. In fact I rotated a photo little but stop at that pose as I didnt want to get snakehead too much off the horizontal position which is most natural position. Bamboo wasnt too straight so I had to compromise (I will appreciate more comments on what is a better choice straight bamboo or level head). Bamboo grows here in Texas in city parks but we dont have vine snakes :).

Trevor thanks a lot for your comments. When I am taking photos of snakes, macros etc., and using flash in most cases (here too) I am using dedicated Oly flash with diffuser on extension cord so I can control direction of light I usually hate straight flash from the top of the camera, as the shadows look very unnatural.

 

thanks for the compliment Stefan, but this is a 100% photograph

Very impressive

perfect moment

Congratulation on this one

European Peacock (english) - Inachis io (latin). Polskie imie brzmi ladniej - sentyment :)

very good

very nice photo

 

Regards, Mark

I visited your country many times in 70s and 80s doing research (reptiles fauna). Nov vid za faunata na Bulgaria Priroda i Znanie 1979 and few more papers. Your photos bring back a lot of beautiful memories.

Congratulation Yuri, well deserved from the best portfolio

Thanks for all your comments. This particular shot was one in million. What is your chance to catch frog jumping straight at you and be prepared to take a picture? This is a typical night animal, so you have to spend hours in very little indirect light to watch their movement and wait for a chance to get a good shot. If you wake them up during the day they behavior is very unnatural and they will find the spot to hide and sleep as soon as possible. The same thing if you turn the light on. So photo in ambient light is not going to be very interesting. I don't like to use a flash if I don't have to (here is an example 1 sec with light temperature adjusted ...http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=654669).

Specially on frogs strong flash produce too much reflection on their wet skin, so using stronger flash won't help the quality. I could adjust levels in this picture and blend the background to be more even but for some reason I wanted to leave this photo "virgin" for critique. I don't have these frogs any more (too sad story to tell) but I know I will have them again in future when I will have more free time. It takes a lot of time to maintain their "living quarters" and to keep them healthy and happy. Only then they are active every night and even getting ready to breed.

 

Very beautiful and original