# Bullsnake Portrait



## rip18 (Mar 27, 2010)

This young, captive bullsnake is one of the western subspecies of the pine snakes/gopher snakes/bullsnakes we find in Georgia.  We had a great day with a workshop of photography students from Liberty University today.  After they left, I took just a bit to grab a few shots of some of the critters we set up for them to shoot, and this was one I got.

One of the girls in the class said that, "Before today, I hated snakes.  But I am leaving here today loving snakes."  WOW!  She had never really seen snakes up close before, nor had she EVER had a chance to touch a snake.  We had two really pretty snakes on hand for her to photograph & hold today - this bullsnake and a recently shed hypo pastel Columbian red-tailed boa.  There was another girl who came to the class hating & fearing snakes as well - she left hating & fearing snakes just as bad.  She even rolled up her window as I walked up to her car to give her a safety tip on pulling out of the drive...

Nikon D3; Lester A. Dine 105 mm macro; f/5.6; 1/250th second; ISO 640; handheld; 1 650 watt tungsten light to the high left, 1 500 watt tungsten light to the even right, 4 35 watt flourescent lights overhead, natural sunlight coming in the door from behind the camera, and an SB-800 (natural light) at - 2 1/3 on a flash bracket (let's just say that I had to adjust the white balance a tad during the RAW conversion process...)  ; full frame.


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## Sunshine1 (Mar 28, 2010)

Cute little critter isn't he??? Great shot


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## Jeff Raines (Mar 28, 2010)

Rip
Do the captive bull snakes have the same attitude their wild cousins do?


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## rip18 (Mar 28, 2010)

This one didn't.  He only hissed once.  He's apparently been handled a LOT and was as calm a bullsnake as I have EVER seen.


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## Jeff Raines (Mar 28, 2010)

I've only caught one.Rescued it from a 4 lane while taking a deer to the check station.It was about 3 1/2 foot long.Very loud hisser,had to put a shirt over it's head to keep from getting bit.
Very strong constrictor too,my hand was almost blue when I got to check station.DNR personel scattered when I came out of the truck with it.


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## GAranger1403 (Mar 28, 2010)

Sweet! Gettin to be that time of year, hope you guys are ready for some snake shots, cus they r coming! Awesome shots RIP!


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## Hoss (Mar 28, 2010)

Great capture, Rip.  

Hoss


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## JasonF (Mar 28, 2010)

Dang thats a fine shot!!
Love the light!


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## cornpile (Mar 28, 2010)

Beautiful colors and detail.


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## wvdawg (Mar 28, 2010)

Excellent presentation!


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## dawg2 (Mar 28, 2010)

Jeff Raines said:


> I've only caught one.Rescued it from a 4 lane while taking a deer to the check station.It was about 3 1/2 foot long.Very loud hisser,had to put a shirt over it's head to keep from getting bit.
> Very strong constrictor too,my hand was almost blue when I got to check station.DNR personel scattered when I came out of the truck with it.



I had one do that.  I had to get someone to help me unwind him.  I really was tryingto keep from getting bitten.  They can be nasty...

Cool shots!!


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## quinn (Mar 29, 2010)

Nice,thanks for sharing some class in here.


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## leo (Mar 29, 2010)

Mighty fine work rip


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## Smokey (Mar 30, 2010)

Stunning!!


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