An amazing encounter in the forest in Koh Phangan

[angiud]

Today, thanks to the nice weather, I visit a nice large patch of primary rainforest left in Koh Phangan, looking for some nice shot. I just got a few shots of a not-so-common butterfly:


The Banded Royal - หางคู่แถบหนา

When, with my periferic vision I saw something like a snake tail. Just getting close and the animal jump out like this:


King Cobra .

Brrr. Just a bit of panic, and then shooting with my camera, trying to get as close as possible, without really understand how much could be dangerous. It was a young King Cobra, possibly aroun1.8/2 mt.

After one long minute I turned 180 and went away AFAP...

[WitawatWatawit]

Doncha just love it when they sit up and beg? Nice pix, mate. Keep them coming.

[bprinceuk]

^{As always Angiud nice photographs}

[jcb2001]

Professional camera, no doubt. Those pics are magnificent. Tried a similar shot of a butterfly on my orchid, but with a cheapo Fuji point and shoot camera, turned out very bland, no sharp colors.

[PoorSucker]

Coolest photo ever...

[xen]

The shot of the Cobra is one of the best i have ever seen . As much as i tolerate snakes i think i would have stained myself being that close .

[John 1]

Coolest photo ever...

Good advertising for his company as for the photo just another shot of a snake.

[Rooo]

Good advertising for his company as for the photo just another shot of a snake.

If words fail you, better not say anything.If it doesn't interest you better say nothing either.

Several members here are very active in the photography forum and the images section in this forum.

All I can say to them is thank you for sharing their photos. As for advertising, have you ever heard of copyright? Obviously you haven't, so better go & do some homework on that too.

[angiud]

Coolest photo ever...

Good advertising for his company as for the photo just another shot of a snake.

Which company are you writing about?

[angiud]

Thank you for the many compliments.

It was years I was trying to find a Cobra in the wild.

An amazing area of wilderness still left in KPG, I don't know for how long.

Today I'll be beck there

[sscsamui]

Great photos....

[Gatorade]

Great picture Anguid! I must say I wouldn't be brave enough to get that close!

Keep 'em coming.

[mackayae]

Nice photos.

More AD photos are shown on Flickr.

[John 1]

Good advertising for his company as for the photo just another shot of a snake.

If words fail you, better not say anything.If it doesn't interest you better say nothing either.

Several members here are very active in the photography forum and the images section in this forum.

All I can say to them is thank you for sharing their photos. As for advertising, have you ever heard of copyright? Obviously you haven't, so better go & do some homework on that too.

Yes word's did fail me so will add this photo.

[Tropicalevo]

Hmmm average photo of a harmless Golden Tree Snake (I have a family of them living in the roof of my house) v high quality photo of a young King Cobra. (Which is reported to be more dangerous than an adult one.)

Angiud 1 - John 0

[John 1]

Good advertising for his company as for the photo just another shot of a snake.

If words fail you, better not say anything.If it doesn't interest you better say nothing either.

Several members here are very active in the photography forum and the images section in this forum.

All I can say to them is thank you for sharing their photos. As for advertising, have you ever heard of copyright? Obviously you haven't, so better go & do some homework on that too.

Yes word's did fail me so will add this photo.

This shot not very professional he wouldn't turn around for a head up shot.

[Rooo]

This is why words fail me John, because I know you like pictures.

[longtom]

Great picture Angiud, need some balls to take that! (we need a smiley for big balls!)

And around 2ms is in my opinion more than a 'small' king cobra, got scared enough myself by 1m or less specimens found in my garden. These buggers are bloody agressive when you come near them, so I really take my hat off to you.

[angiud]

Ah ah. Maybe balls, but mostly was the will to get a good pic. If you could see most of the 20 pics i shot are blurred, shaken, not straight.

After the first pics thru the viewfinder, I just push the camera closer with my arms, without actually get closer with my head and body. Hihi.

Then when satisified, just go away, understanding I was shaking a bit for the emotion (fear?)

[SeaVisionBurma]

Love that shot of the King Cobra Angiud!

[NCC1701A]

can you give us some technical info on your camera for the Cobra photo? Camera body, lens type and focal length, mono pod? I see it looks like a shallow depth of field so I am thinking you are at the end of your zoom and maybe shooting wide open or close to it?

[Dararasmi]

Fantastic photographs! Just beautiful.

(Once, in Patong Phuket of all places, a rather long cobra slithered behind my legs as I was sitting down in my room's open doorway. He was a rather mellow dude.)

[angiud]

can you give us some technical info on your camera for the Cobra photo? Camera body, lens type and focal length, mono pod? I see it looks like a shallow depth of field so I am thinking you are at the end of your zoom and maybe shooting wide open or close to it?

Canon 6D - Sigma Macro 150/2.8 OS iso 2000 1/320 f5.6 exposure -1.0ev fill flash (Canon 580ex ii Speedlite), distance 1/1.50 mt, Autofocus center point AI servo.

[Phuket electrician]

Beautiful pictures, had a similar experience earlier this month in Ao Makham . My cat came across a similar looking snake about 1m. More markings on it's throat than your pic. The cat sat in front and at a right angle to it about a foot away. Just sat there almost ignoring the snake. Fascinating. Cat chased it away after 5 mins. My pic was stot with cheap fuji camera. Don't know how to post pic here.

[falang07]

I hope you have a work permit, too, since we are not supposed to do anything else in here than spend the money earned abroad and taking professional pictures is a work you take from the Thais who have it reserved just for themselves

[falang07]

Also, I can not help it but why in the hell is a blurred background considered a high quality professional photography? Is this some new standard to save the memory for those pixels by blurring them out? Strange, if you ask me

[NCC1701A]

A out of focus background is consider a good thing as it shifts your attention to the subject and not the background. The photographer can control the degree the background goes out of focus by changing the aperture size of the lens and by the focal length. (amount of zoom). And in Photoshop, with a little work, change the focus of any part of the image, but IMO in camera "depth of field" yields the best result. I was not thinking about a flash, I now see a little light reflection on the snake's skin. Very cool!

Edited August 18, 2013 by NCC1701A

[BuriramRes]

Enjoyed the cobra photo but the butterfly was equally good.

Guess you had more time with that one!

[Maggusoil]

Fantastic shot. My guess would be you were hoping if it did strike it would be at the camera.

Or do the feint strike they often do first, when not hunting.

It's good to know your snake and its habits.

Snakes I have met in the wild, like Australian Death Adder, a large Tiger snake, a giant King Brown snake, mostly

have left alone except for the King Brown we stupidly tried to catch. Fortunately we failed.

Nice work. Beautiful focus. Very clean. .

[smokinfun]

Nice shot - there is a photography forum?? Looking forward to meeting my fellow photogs when in Bangkok - any suggestions?

f1.8 - unless cropped, means you were pretty close with a fixed focus. Just that alone deserved congrats!!