I never quite know what I will encounter when I am out wandering in the wild with my camera, like this rather large snake that I almost literally stumbled upon on Monday while exploring in Prince William County. I am fairly certain is an Eastern Rat Snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis), the most commonly seen snake in the state of Virginia where I live, according to the Virginia Herpetological Society. On average, an Eastern Rat Snake in our state is 42 – 72 inches in length (107-183 cm) and I estimated that this one was at least four feet long (122 cm).
The snake was completely stretched out perpendicular to a stream and did not react as I initially approached, which shocked me a little. When I took my initial shots, in which I was not as close as it seems, I noticed that its eyes were somewhat cloudy, an indication that this snake may have been preparing to shed its skin. Knowing that snakes are vulnerable during this stage and more likely to be aggressive, I captured my shots quickly and backed away.
I decided to try something different to capture a view of the entire snake and created a panoramic image in Photoshop using three separate shots. The last image is the result of that little project and I encourage you to click on the image to get a look at the entire length of the snake. In case you are curious, the process is really easy and the software does most of the work aligning the images.
I was inspired to try the panorama by the work of Reed Andariese, an amazing photographer whose blog, Photo Art Flight, I follow. Over the years, Reed has done panoramic composite shots using a wide variety of cameras (including his iPhone) and lenses—check out his recent posting in which he featured multi-image composites taken with a fish-eye lens. Wow!
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Great post Mike! Glad you got to use the pano feature in Photoshop! The more you do the more predictable the results are. Thanks also for the mention in your post! Thanks again and I always enjoy your posts!
Thanks, Reed. I have used the pano feature before, but only for landscapes. Your posts have caused me to think about more creative uses of the feature while I am on scene. I never hurts to capture a few extra images, even if I decide afterwards that I don’t want to use them or don’t like the results. It’s sort of like breaking out of the mindset that says that certain lens are only for certain subjects. It was mind expanding for me to realize that telephoto lens can be used for landscape shots and not just wide angle lenses. Now I am perfectly ok photographing birds with my macro lens and taking macro-style shots with my long lenses. In fact, today’s pano was shot with my 180mm macro lens.
Would be cool to find the shed skin from such a long snake!
Nice snake photos
Thanks, Louis.
Cool!
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Thanks, Mitzy.
Hi Mike,
I’m so glad you did not step on the snake by accident! Chris and I sometimes see these snakes along the trails in Seneca Creek State Park, often looking lumpy, just as this one does. At first we speculated that the snakes had eaten something lumpy, but that seems unlikely. Do you think it might have sonething to do with shedding?
I think it might be related to shedding. According to one source, “When a snake is ready to shed, it stops eating and slithers to a safe place. Its outer skin becomes dull and dry. Fluid from the lymphatic system spreads under this skin, separating it from the new skin beneath it. This fluid gives the snake’s eyes a gray or bluish cast and clouds its vision.” I think the fluid may be stretching the old skin a bit, accounting for the lumpiness, which makes it easier for the the snake to shed the old skin. Here is a link to the article that I referenced. https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/snakes#
[…] somewhat similar in appearance to the Eastern Rat Snake that I featured last week (See the posting Ready to shed?), but are a bit smaller in size and have shinier, smoother skins. Several of my Facebook friends […]