# Adder Photos.



## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

Hi everyone. I visited both my favourite sites yesterday. The first one was quite disappointing with only a couple of Slow Worms and a few Viviparous Lizards spotted. I didn't expect there to be many Adders about once it had warmed up so I got there quite early but still failed to find any.

The second site was a different story. I found 2 adult female Adders, 1 adult male Adder and 3 juvenile Adders. The male was showing his 'mating colours' and is was a beautiful silver-grey with dark black markings. I've been trying to photograph one like this for the past two years so I was well pleased to get a couple of good shots. 
It was also an absolutely amazing day for Slow Worms at this site. I spotted an incredible 49 Slow Worms under about a dozen artificial refugia. (tins & felt). There were a few very large males with very clear blue spotted markings indicating a fair old age. With Slow Worms capable of living to over 50 years of age I was wondering how old some of these large spotted males must have been? It makes me want to treat them with even more respect having lived for that long.

Anyway, here are a couple of Adder shots. As usual, larger versions and other images can be seen on my website here:

http://www.jasonsteelwildlifephotography.yolasite.com

































































Best regards,
Jason


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## Jono_187 (Aug 24, 2009)

great photos!!!!


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

Thanks Jono. I appreciate your comments.

Best regards,
Jason


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## blood and guts (May 30, 2007)

Those shots are stunning!!!:2thumb:


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. My father told me the other day that I had too many photos of Adders on my website. I told him that it's impossible to have too many Adder shots! 

Best regards,
Jason


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## blood and guts (May 30, 2007)

JaySteel said:


> Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. My father told me the other day that I had too many photos of Adders on my website. I told him that it's impossible to have too many Adder shots!
> 
> Best regards,
> Jason


Just had a nose at your website, some fantastic work there mate. And nope you can never have to many adder pics..


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

Thanks again for your comments and for checking out my website photos too!

Best regards,
Jason


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

Some truly fantastic shots here.

Im surprised you havent had more replies too?!

Please dont be offended(because that is not my intention) but Im wondering if some of these shots were "set up"? As in, you moved the Adder to a more photo friendly scene? Once again, no offence is meant by this.


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## Owzy (Jan 19, 2009)

Great shots.


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

Testudo Man said:


> Some truly fantastic shots here.
> 
> Im surprised you havent had more replies too?!
> 
> Please dont be offended(because that is not my intention) but Im wondering if some of these shots were "set up"? As in, you moved the Adder to a more photo friendly scene? Once again, no offence is meant by this.


Thanks for your comments. No offence taken. All of my snake photos are taken in the wild but sometimes I do lift the snake out into the open to get a clean shot. Something I know many people don't approve of so it's not something I shout about. But the snakes are always treated with the utmost care.

Best regards,
Jason


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## struvas (Jan 22, 2009)

Fantastic shots, What macro lens are you using for those close ups?

I have been out to my Adder sites the last two days and have not found a sausage SOB!

Dan:2thumb:


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

JaySteel said:


> Thanks for your comments. No offence taken. All of my snake photos are taken in the wild but sometimes I do lift the snake out into the open to get a clean shot. Something I know many people don't approve of so it's not something I shout about. But the snakes are always treated with the utmost care.
> 
> Best regards,
> Jason


Thanks for your honesty. I think im one of those who does not approve of moving the adder from its location.

Ive spent some time this year myself, watching/photographing Adder activity, and Ive only seen a couple of adders out in the open, most sightings of them are semi hidden. Although its only my 2nd year of photographing adders, so im still the novice:blush:.

I have managed to photograph mating shots recently, so im pretty pleased with that.


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

Thanks struvas. I use my Canon 40D with my Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS lens for my snake shots now. I used to use the standard non-IS version which was just as sharp.


Testudo Man - I failed to even witness any mating behaviour this year let alone get any shots. Something to aim for though.

Best regards,
Jason


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

JaySteel said:


> Testudo Man - I failed to even witness any mating behaviour this year let alone get any shots. Something to aim for though.
> 
> Best regards,
> Jason


 
Ive been observing an area, at least once a week since late February, so Ive put the hours in on Adder activity there. I almost captured photos of male Adder combat(3 males were at each other) but they separated before i could get any shots:bash:. At that time, i couldnt locate a female in the area, but i knew she was there, and when i returned 2 days later, sure enough she was there alright(along with 2 males). One of the males was entwined with her, and the other male tried to get in on the act, which didnt go down too well. They all went their separate ways, but about an hour later, i found both male and female together, then watched the mating ritual of the male, then got lucky with some clear mating shots.


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

Great to be able to witness these events. I visit my local site every couple of weeks and my other not so local site a couple of times a year. I normally spend 1-2 hours on each visit. Most of the time I photograph any Adders from about 8ft away so as not to disturb them. Obviously these are just record shots and are simply to try and identify each snake. The problem for me is the time I can get to the sites, which is usually mid to late afternoon. Not the best time to see reptiles.
If there are no reptiles about then I'll photograph butterflies, bugs, rabbits or anything else that I can get a good shot of while I wait around for reptiles to emerge.

Best regards,
Jason


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## blood and guts (May 30, 2007)

JaySteel said:


> Thanks struvas. I use my Canon 40D with my Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS lens for my snake shots now. I used to use the standard non-IS version which was just as sharp.
> 
> 
> Testudo Man - I failed to even witness any mating behaviour this year let alone get any shots. Something to aim for though.
> ...


Would you say the is lense is worth the extra over the older macro? im looking at this lense when i get my new slr in a few months and would be good to hear some first hand experience on it..


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

blood and guts said:


> Would you say the is lense is worth the extra over the older macro? im looking at this lense when i get my new slr in a few months and would be good to hear some first hand experience on it..


I would say no. Not for macro work which is what this lens is intended for. I used the standard version as my main lens for about three years and took thousands of shots with it. The new 'L' version hasn't shown me any significant improvement in image quality.
I 'IS' isn't really that much use either for macro work. If you're hands are moving about enough to make the image stabilisation necessary then you're probably moving in and out of focus too with the shallow depth of field you get with extreme close-up work, and the 'IS' can't help with this.
I've also found no improvement with the auto-focus either. The standard lens was just as quick and may have even been slightly better at getting a lock on the subject at times. You're really paying for the weather-proofing and the rock solid residual values that come with the 'L' lens. Don't get me wrong, I love this new lens but I loved the old one too and I still had a few hundred extra pounds in my pocket. If you're intending to use it for shots of subjects at a slightly longer range then the 'IS' may well be worth the extra money. I took some indoor shots at a zoo with this lens using a shutter speed of just 1/6 sec and they came out pretty well. But if you're just after a lens purely for very close-up work then I'd say stick with the standard lens and put the extra money towards something else.



If you look on my website you'll see all of my macro & reptile shots including the snakes were taken with the standard lens. The only shots taken with the new lens were:

Reptiles Page: Images 5,6,8,9,10,13,14,15,16,17.
Adders Page2: Images 2,6,7,8.
Adders Page3: Images 9,10,11.
Mammals Page: Images 8


Best regards,
Jason


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## struvas (Jan 22, 2009)

Pay day tomorrow. And guess what im Purchasing!!!??

1 x 100mm Macro

Any tips on a telephoto lens? Have you used the canon 55-250mm IS lens?
Its cheap but I hear its better than the 75-300mm and unfortunately im going to blow my budget on the macro lens as its something I have always wanted!


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

You won't regret buying that lens. Not sure on a a telephoto lens though. I haven't used the 55-250mm IS lens. I use the Canon 70-200 f4 L with the 1.4 extender if necessary.

Best regards,
Jason


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## Testudo Man (Aug 3, 2005)

JaySteel said:


> Great to be able to witness these events. I visit my local site every couple of weeks and my other not so local site a couple of times a year. I normally spend 1-2 hours on each visit. Most of the time I photograph any Adders from about 8ft away so as not to disturb them. Obviously these are just record shots and are simply to try and identify each snake. The problem for me is the time I can get to the sites, which is usually mid to late afternoon. Not the best time to see reptiles.
> If there are no reptiles about then I'll photograph butterflies, bugs, rabbits or anything else that I can get a good shot of while I wait around for reptiles to emerge.
> 
> Best regards,
> Jason


Ive just posted a thread in the Wildlife section of this forum, which shows Adder courtship/mating shots here- http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/forums/wildlife/685312-adder-courtship-mating-shots.html if you would like to have a look.

And I too, take photos of various wildlife/insects, whilst waiting for the shy reptiles to show themselves: victory:

I did have some luck recently on the 29th of April too, I went to 2 sites, 1st site i saw 3 female Adders and 1 Common Lizard, 2nd site(late in the afternoon) I saw 3 male Adders and 1 common Lizard. I did manage to capture some pretty good shots of all these reptiles too, cheers.


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## JaySteel (Jan 28, 2010)

Wow! Amazing to capture such intimate footage of the mating process. I've never witnessed this myself either. Fascinating stuff!

I was out with a very well known (within his field) professional photographer yesterday and we were lucky enough to see 7 adders, 1 grass snake, a few common lizards and probably about 30 slow worms. I was most excited about finding the grass snake at this site which I'd never done before but the photographer was only interested in photographing adders. I was lucky enough to photograph a beautiful melanistic adder though which was a real treat.

Best regards,
Jason


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