Banded water snake

[Stina3246]

My husband and I took a nature walk to test my new Nikon D90 and found TONS of wildlife to take pictures of. I loved this one of the banded water snake. How did I do with composition? Does it look a bit dark? Would this photo be good enough to maybe submit to a nature magazine?
F5.6
Exposure 1/250
ISO 720
I used my 55-200 zoom and it was at 200MM
I also cropped it a bit. There was more of the snake up top




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[Mom2EandD]

Um...bear in mind, I'm not a fan of snakes...that being said..I think you did a great job...his head is just about on one of the Rule of Thirds spots and its just a nice shot...his/hers?? eyes are in focus...I'm 45..my eyes are going..not sure if his back is all the way in focus or not...but it's very nice...I'm sure you weren't waiting for him to appear with a tripod and he was undoubtedly in motion...now me...my camera would have been slung over my back as I ran, screaming from the area...but hey...it's your camera...you get to pick the subject...and you did a very nice job at that. Kudos!!

[Gulf Coast Girl]

Very nice, I like the brown and green colors together. I know snakes on the move can be hard to get a well focused shot. I do think I'd like to see more of the snake body in the picture.

[Bruce A]

Great photo. Nicely framed and focussed nicely in the right place - it's eyes. I think it's good enought to submit, but I'm no pro

[alphavalues]

Very nice! I like cooler tones and saturated colors, and that's a beautiful snake. I especially like how you caught it just coming up with the duckweed on it.

[Stina3246]

Originally Posted by Mom2EandD

Um...bear in mind, I'm not a fan of snakes...that being said..I think you did a great job...his head is just about on one of the Rule of Thirds spots and its just a nice shot...his/hers?? eyes are in focus...I'm 45..my eyes are going..not sure if his back is all the way in focus or not...but it's very nice...I'm sure you weren't waiting for him to appear with a tripod and he was undoubtedly in motion...now me...my camera would have been slung over my back as I ran, screaming from the area...but hey...it's your camera...you get to pick the subject...and you did a very nice job at that. Kudos!!

That really made me chuckle! LOL Actually, I can not claim to have that steady of a hand. He sat perfectly still as I snapped shot after shot at different angles and focal lengths. The preserve we were in was AMAZING. We saw several variety of snakes, tons of gators, a hawk, a frog, dozens of lizards, butterflies, a bunny and many varieties of large colorful insects and most of them sat and allowed us to photograph them to our hearts delight. The only one I couldn't get very close to was the hawk.