Photographying Snakes

Being a nature photographer, I think one of the tough subject to make meaningful image of are snakes. Unlike birds they don't have favourite perches to sit and pose for! They are long, unless they are made to coil getting them whole on a frame is tough, most of the time they move quickly and disappear in under-growths. I don't like lots of snake images because most of them are made in an un-natural manner - like for example irritating them to open the hood, mouth etc. Why a cobra opens its hood looking at a photographer ? Snake in a perfect clean out of focus background ? I think some those images lack natural feel.

During my recent trip to Dandeli, I tried making a few images of Common Bronze-back. I tried making images of it without disturbing its natural behaviour. One technique I learnt is just observe and make images at right time. 300mmf4 lens appears like a perfect fit for this task. It is possible we may not make images which I prefer it more than irritating them to open hood or mouth.

You can see some of these snakes (and other) images by clicking
new images link at my home - Nature Lyrics

No access to net..

I am planning a trip to my native place (Western Ghat regions). Will not be available, may be till 20th Oct. Happy Dasara to every one !!

Mimicry in Nature

During recent a trip to Western Ghats region we found this spider !! To be precise I did not see it - thought some fallen leaf on the web but my friend Ashwin recognized it ! What a beautiful spider and mimicry in nature !! Incidently only two of this kind of leaf mimicking spiders have been discovered so far in India. (Thanks to Sindhu Ramachandran who shared information related to this spider)

In this blog I talked about camouflage in nature. Mimicry serves similar purpose. Here is another superb mimicry that I was able to record again in Western Ghats region recently - Blue Oak Leaf butterfly !

We need to spot them when they are flying - otherwise they are some fallen dead leaves !!

Here is another example of an image of stick case moth caterpillar (thanks to Sindu Ramachandran again to help me id this)

Designs in nature are not only beautiful but are very functional. Mimicry is another strategy for survival adopted by life forms in nature similar to camouflage.

- Ganesh H Shankar (Nature Lyrics)