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Snake in the Leaves


 

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Snake in the Leaves
Snake in the Leaves

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At the weekend "Meetup" of the Delaware Valley Photo Friends at Tyler State Park in Newtown, PA.
The group's leader (wearing his trademark blue glove) cornered a young garter snake against a stone wall to give the group an opportunity to shoot him for several minutes.
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It was really difficult--a dark spot with a nervous, rapidly moving snake, but I managed to get one shot that had possibilities. Cropped it majorly. Then applied various Nik filters to sharpen and add contrast. Also, some of the leaves were curled and white on the reverse side. The white was distracting, so used some of the other leaves to clone color and texture onto the white areas. Dodged and burned some areas too.
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Will post the uncropped, unedited version in the discussion area.

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Michelle Alton

 
  Uncropped , Unedited Snake Shot
Uncropped , Unedited Snake Shot

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Michelle Alton

 
 
 

Michelle Alton
 

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Untouched Original.


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October 18, 2011

 

Mary K. Robison
  The magic of editing! Beautiful result from your Digital Darkroom work, Michelle.


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October 18, 2011

 
robinsonphotoart.com - Jeff Robinson

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  Excellent color tones and wildlife capture Michelle!


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October 18, 2011

 

Gord MacEachern
  You ended up with a wonderful image Michelle, super work here!!


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October 18, 2011

 

Alan L. Borror
  Wonderful capture and great DD work, Michelle!


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October 18, 2011

 

Jyri Vissak
  Well seen and captured. Great timing!


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October 18, 2011

 
- R. J. Laudenbacher

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  Okay...so this makes me want to go out tromping through the leaves!...NOT!!!!!! :) Such a wonderful shot Michelle and even better DD work to really make it pop from the leaves.


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October 18, 2011

 
karenemichaels.com - Karen E. Michaels

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  you got the shot and made it work, Brava.
It is both art and a good study.
I am not nearly as good with words as you, Michelle;-).


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October 18, 2011

 

Danny B. Head
  Great work getting the original image to this outstanding outcome!


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October 18, 2011

 
emptynestphotos.com - Agnes Fegan

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  Wow...amazing results on this one Michelle!


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October 18, 2011

 

Monnie Ryan
  You did a great job on this one, Michelle!


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October 18, 2011

 
- Millie A. Talarico

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  Amazing work, Michelle!


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October 18, 2011

 

Robert R. Goodman
  Hi Michelle,Beautiful treatment.Great work on this image.Looks like a friendly snake,the ones we have out here like to Rattle!!!!!


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October 18, 2011

 

Jack Ryan
  Great find...excellent image. Well done.


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October 18, 2011

 

Renata Gusciora
  Great find and fantastic shot,Michelle!Nice colors,tones and treatments!


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October 18, 2011

 

Jack Gaskin
  WAY TO WORK IT !!!
Used to have them all over the yard years ago , in fact a Garter snake was the first photo I took with my Nikon 6006 film camera.

Jack


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October 18, 2011

 
- Mitch Spence

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  You did a really nice job with this, Michelle. I know about the whiteness of some of the downed leaves like this. And I know it can be tedious to fix, but you did it. And when you have no option to reach in there and fix it beforehand, well . . . I think the snake would have thoroughly disputed its territory had you tried that!


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October 18, 2011

 

Gregory R. Gaskin
  Great Photoshop work and a pretty cool snake photo.


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October 18, 2011

 

David Hurt
  Well done Michelle.


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October 18, 2011

 
- Ann Coates

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  You did a fantastic job with your editing here Michelle. Fantastic find and capture.


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October 18, 2011

 

Mike Clime
  Still way to close for me even if it is a garter snake. Nice work on fixing it up, Michelle!


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October 18, 2011

 
- Joannie Bertucci

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  Michelle, is a snake in the leaves worse than a snake in the grass? :-) You did an excellent job of editing, he looks very sinister!


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October 18, 2011

 

David Phalen
  Congratulations Michelle this one amazing "rescue" job!!


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October 18, 2011

 
- Val Feldman

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  How you got "from there to here" is a true testimony of your amazing knowledge of editing and the various software programs and also your very keen eye for the aesthetic details. Incredible job, Michelle. Bravo!


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October 18, 2011

 

Kerry Hill
  Fabulous work Michelle!


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October 18, 2011

 

John Connolly
  You get a big "E" for effort here Michelle! What a great wildlife capture and presentation! A job well done!


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October 18, 2011

 

Brett Dolsen
  Great DD Work and wildlife capture under difficult conditions Michelle!!


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October 18, 2011

 
buffalogalphotos.com - Terry Cervi

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  You did some extensive DD work on this, Michelle, but I think it was well worth your effort! I really like the result! Very nicely done!


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October 18, 2011

 

Barbara Waldoch
  Terrific job, Michelle!


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October 18, 2011

 

Carol L. Fowler
  Love the snake capture- great with the fall colors


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October 18, 2011

 
patriciacasey.com - Patricia A. Casey

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  Wonderful! I happen to like snakes....cool capture, Michelle....nice editing job from the original.....Cheers =^..^=


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October 18, 2011

 
- Heather Loewenhardt

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  Wow not only are you a skilled photographer but also very skilled at the post processing. You made a simple photo rock with all the treatments you applied to bring this one to life. I never would have known all the work it took to make this an excellent image. Thanks for sharing.


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October 18, 2011

 

Ian M. Hill
  Well done Michelle,and what a difference to the original.


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October 18, 2011

 

Nadia Paul
  Wow, wonderful capture and great processing Michelle!


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October 18, 2011

 
annbelusphotography.com - Ann H. Belus

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  Amazing job of editing on this image, Michelle...love the colors!


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October 18, 2011

 

Karen L. Swigart
  Amazing job Michelle! The best work are one that you can't tell were edited. I wouldn't have known had I not read your description. The colors and everything is just beautiful!


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October 19, 2011

 
- Emile Abbott

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  Both original and cropped version are excellent, Michelle


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October 21, 2011

 
- Christine Lobsinger

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  Gorgeous colouring...
Awesome WORK!
Smiling CHRiSTINE


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October 25, 2011

 
- Marilyn K. Lincecum

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  Great shot and great post processing!! Both images are good, but I really like the colors and tones on the edited version.


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October 27, 2011

 
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