PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

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chrish
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PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by chrish »

The Photo Essay for this half month will be photos capturing motion in herps. (Thanks to Antonsrkn for this great idea!)

The idea is to show (or even better, take) a photo that shows a herp in motion or with part of its body in motion.
The motion can be inferred from the shot (i.e. their doesn't have to a blur to the photo necessarily).

The photo shoud be a good photo of the herp, not just a photo of a frog hopping out of the frame.
This might be challenging since we all shoot a lot of shots with flash to freeze motion.

So let's see what we can come up with.

Simple Rules:

1. Only one photo per post, per person, per day.
2. The photo must be less than 1024 pixels on its longest side.
3. Please tell us what the creature is.
4. Please explain how you captured the motion.

- No videos please, just still photos.

Have fun!

Chris
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by chrish »

I don't know how many photos I will be able to contribute to this idea, but here's one that conveys motion.

I was photographing this Barking Frog in a roadside ditch in South Carolina back in the Dark Ages (before digital cameras). Because I was using slide film, I couldnt' see my results until several days after I took the photos. When I did, I was very pleased to have unintentionally captured the waves in the water caused by his call.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by fvachss »

Not necessarily in *fast* motion...

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Antonsrkn »

Also an older image, this hognose was gaping and (mock?) lunging at me. I got lucky and snapped this photo mid lunge.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by AsydaBass »

Great photos so far guys! I bet if we all dig through our archives, we would probably have quite a few entries to this essay. This is the first essay that I'll actually be around for, well except for this NAFHA meeting weekend.

-Don
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Stohlgren »

That photos is awesome, Chris. I have always wanted to get a photo like that but it has yet to happen. Not sure why it doesn't always happen when frogs are calling in the water.

I don't know that I have much for this topic, so is this cheating? I was shooting this frog on a tripod and took several shots to try to get one with the vocal sac fully extended (which didn't happen because I nearly got attacked by a beaver). When I uploaded the pictures I decided to play around with creating an animated gif file.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by AsydaBass »

Reaching Out

Bolitoglossa lignicolor

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Bolitoglossa lignicolor is an arboreal tropical lungless salamander. If you look closely at the picture you can see its completely webbed feet. In this photo, the salamander was waving its arms while reaching out to the next leaf.

Nikon D7000
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f/9
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meter mode- spot

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by MHollanders »

Copying Chris.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by periglenes »

On a technical level this photo stinks. But I loved the drama.

In case you can't tell, a male Anaxyrus americanus throws a classic martial arts side thrust kick to the face of another male, while maintaing his grip on his true love, who is actively laying eggs.

Shot in full sunlight (9:30 AM) with SB 400 iTTL flash, ISO 400, F9 @ 1/200s.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by bgorum »

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Gorum_120626_2585 by bgorum, on Flickr
Calling Bullfrog, Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico. There’s a boardwalk that goes over one of the marshes at Bosque del Apache. On this particular evening there were several bullfrogs calling from that marsh. This one was calling from right near the boardwalk so I set up the camera on a tripod to photograph it. It was late in the evening and the frog was down in the shadows of the cattails, so the light level was quite low. This resulted in a pretty slow shutter speed that blurred the frog as it called, leaving only the perfectly still parts sharp. I have other shots of this frog where I used flash and everything is sharp, but I prefer this one.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Soopaman »

This Texas Ratsnake was actively engaging in mouth gaping and biting, this photo was taken in the midst of that:
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Pantherophis obsoletus lindheimeri (Texas Rat Snake) by Kyle L.E., on Flickr
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Antonsrkn »

I wasn't thinking of shots of frogs calling when I suggested the theme, but I have to say i'm digging them. I really like your shot Matthijs and yours too Chris, there is something extra cool in the fact that the movement is illustrated in the environment around the animal than in the herp itself.

Flying
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I have a few shots of sea turtles underwater, but many of them just seem like they are gliding along or hovering. This ones posture conveys motion to me, and infact the turtle was moving along at a brisk pace.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by CCarille »

Not the greatest photo (pre DSLR for me), but you get the idea. 6 - 6 1/2 ft Caiman. Tortuguero, Costa Rica.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Tim Borski »

I don't have a remote flash and dislike the results from the camera mounted one, so "movement" shows up quite frequently. Here's a bolting SK.


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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Chelonia mydas coming up for air. Similan islands np. Thailand.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by AsydaBass »

Strut Your Stuff
Yellow Dyeing Tink Frog (Diasporus citrinobapheus)

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Members of the Diasporus genus (tink frogs) prefer walking over jumping. While these frogs are usually located from within their secretive calling sites, with a bit a luck you can sometimes encounter them out on the prowl.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Stohlgren »

A small banded water snake (Nerodia fasciata) trying to take down a barking treefrog (Hyla gratiosa). I think the upside-down snake, kicking frog, and bubbles all help to add the sense of struggle and motion to the photo.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by bgorum »

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Gorum_120528_1141 by bgorum, on Flickr
Getting the skin shedding process started. Round-tailed Horned Lizard, (Phrynosoma modestum), Bosque del Apache NWR, New Mexico. Not a whole lot to say here. I encountered this horned lizard foraging for ants and sat down to watch it for a while. Soon it turned its attention from foraging to shedding and I shot a long sequence of shots of it getting rid of its old skin.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Juvenile Bufo bufo crawling on moss.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Neil M »

Here's a little gopher tortoise from northern Florida!

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by bgorum »

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Gorum_120522_0128 by bgorum, on Flickr
Eastern Collared Lizards, (Crotaphytus collaris), Bernalillio county, New Mexico. This one was pretty straight forward. I encountered these two collared lizards, next to one another on a rock, at the end of May. I figured a male/female pair of lizards at that time of year should be worth watching. So I set up the camera on a tripod and waited. The action here appears to be the male getting the reject from the female. I could definitely identify with the poor fellow, (TMI, I know!).
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by CCarille »

I believe a slender anole (Arenal, Costa Rica) - caught in mid-jump.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Jason B »

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Copperbelly Watersnake (Nerodia erythrogaster neglecta)
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by bgorum »

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Female Southwestern Earless Lizard having a shitty day. Capturing this one required some help. Josh and I had gone out to a local mountain range to look for herps one evening and we stopped by this corral to flip some boards and poke around a bit. When I saw this earless lizard perched on top of the cow pie I framed a shot with the camera on a tripod and then asked Josh to walk slowly towards her. I had my finger on the shutter release and was watching the lizard over the camera, not through the viewfinder. As soon as I sensed she was going to flick her tail I pressed the shutter release and I got the action. I took only a single frame!
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by WW** »

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Slow and steady rather than fast and furious: Crotalus atrox using rectilinear locomotion to cross a road, Cochise County, Arizona, 9am, early August. I like how the low angle of view shows the individual purchase points along the body that the snake is using to propel itself forward.

Another observation I found interesting: I had actually wanted to get a straight head-on shot of the snake, but it always veered off sideways to avoid crawing directly towards me. At the first attempt, it turned around and headed back off the road, then crawled around on the wide, exposed verge of the road for a few minutes, before crossing again, completing the operation this time around.

I have often wondered whether snakes that turn back after being disturbed while crossing the road would decide to go somewhere else instead or try again. This specimen chose the latter option. That certainly supports the idea that when moving snakes off the road, one should move them in the direction that they were crossing prior to disturbance.

Any other thoughts/observations on this?
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by chrish »

Great stuff so far, top to bottom. You folks are really creative.

Kevin - love the frog gif. I have several of those myself, but your angle really makes it better. Nicely done.

Mathjias - beautiful shot. Is that a collembolan, mosquito or what on its throat?

periglenes - :lol:

bgorum - Holy cow, I didn't know this was your week to shine!
- I like the way the only thing sharp in your bullfrog shot is the head and eyes. That's very nice.
- the Collared Lizard whipping the tail is also very cool.
- I've always wanted to get a shot of a Copho/Callisaurus doing that tail wave. Nice capture.

Marti - Is that a remora on that turtle?

Wolfgang - very creative. Great shot.. but clone out that red thing on the rock behind the snake! :shock:

Anyway, here's some low hanging fruit no one else has taken......

Pissed off Crotalus viridis (or is that redundant?) shaking his thang!

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by bgorum »

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Gorum_110530_1856 by bgorum, on Flickr
Chihuahuan Spotted Whiptail shaking a cicada to tear it apart. She eventually ended up ripping off the head and both wings in this manner. Watched a New Mexico whiptail deal with a moth in a similar manner this summer.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Martti Niskanen »

Mauremys leprosa Coto Donana np. Spain.

This little fella was crawling in the middle of sand dunes, moving from pool to pool.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by WW** »

chrish wrote: Wolfgang - very creative. Great shot.. but clone out that red thing on the rock behind the snake! :shock:
Funny how easy it is to miss the obvious while focussing on the subtle....

As an act of contrition, here's another contribution:

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An athletic Crocodylus suchus diving into river, Parc National de la Niokolo-Koba, Senegal, January 2008. The species was formerly confused with C. niloticus.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by ZantiMissKnit »

Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon) swimming along the shore of my father-in-law's neighbor's pond in Oneida County, New York.

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DSCN0678 by ZantiMissKnit, on Flickr
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Antonsrkn »

An diamondback watersnake zipping across a pond.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by bgorum »

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Alright, so I’m always getting pissed at my students for not reading directions and I just realized I had not read the directions for this essay where it says we are supposed to discuss how the action was captured. I’ll go back and edit my previous post! For this western diamondback I combined two photographs taken one right after another. In one the snake’s rattle was perfectly still, while in the second he was vibrating his tail at a pretty good clip.
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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by umop apisdn »

This one's already been touched on, and since Chris had to call out rattling as "low-hanging fruit", I guess I'll go with a good old hooding hog (and a little tongue-flicking).

Eastern Hognose, Heterodon platirhinos. Captured as I tried to get the thing to calm down for some field guide shots, but it insisted on showing me how big and bad it was as it tried to slither away. Better than dying and pooping on me, I guess.

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Re: PHOTO ESSAY - October 1-15 - Herps in Motion

Post by Antonsrkn »

I like to show off this series often enough where many if not most of you have probably seen it before but it definitely shows some action!
C. acutus with black snook

CHOMP!
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Nothing special behind the methods for taking this photo just alot of luck and being in the right place at the right time!
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