Mark Cassino Photography - Mark's Blog

With the first week of June coming to a close, the warm late spring weather has finally arrived. Today I again visited the local municipal park / well field and was pleased to see that dragonflies had at last arrived in substantial numbers. Many of the species have proven to be difficult to identify – perhaps they are juvenile forms, or maybe they are just absent from my field guides. In any rate, several of the subjects remain unidentified.

The park – the McLinden Nature Trails – have large areas of tall grasses. It’s not a native prairie by any measure, but rather cultivated grasses that have just grown out wild. Many areas are pressed flat where deer sleep. The dragonflies are thick in some of these grassy areas, and the lush green grasses behind them make for an attractive background, though getting a clear shot – both front the perspective of grass stalks in front of the subject as well as behind it. 

Today I saw several different dragonflies and damselflies – including Indigo Jewel Wings, several species of bluet damselflies, 12 spotted skimmers, basket tails, and countless common white tails. In addition, the grassy areas were also full of wood satyr butterflies, which flit around the vegetation with their characteristic ‘lazy’ flying style.

This spring is also bringing some unusual insects that, in my experience, are more common later in the summer. Monarch butterflies, lace wings, and grasshoppers are out in abundance. The Monarchs are particularly early, since in the last several years they haven’t shown up until late August. Hopefully this is a good sign and indicates that the monarch population is healthy.

Over the weekend I did the usual spring yard work, but the kept the camera handy to snap opportunistic shots of the insects that popped up. Some old favorites appeared on hand – syrphid flies, lace wings, and the ever present common housefly.

Syrphid flies, with their bee-mimicking appearance, always make for interesting subjects. The don’t seem to be as abundant this spring as in past years, but hopefully things will pick up.

The golden eyed lacewing also makes an interesting subject. As mentioned, lacewings are out in great force this year, and the golden eyed’s are particularly striking, especially when looking at it through the camera lens. These delicate insects are actually fearsome predators, consuming aphids and other small insects.

The common fly makes for yet another interesting subject. Ok – so these guys are disgusting, but still marvelous in the intricacies and detail of their physical structure. These insects can be unpredictable, with incredibly quick reflexes. The Pentax TTL flash system utilizes a preflash, that measures light levels a split second before firing. Some insects – mostly flies – are fast enough to jump into flight when the pre-flash hits, resulting a blurred shot of a fly in flight. 

Today and over the weekend I shot using the *ist-D, 200mm macro lens, flash, and monopod setup. With the monopod it’s possible tog et sharp images at shutters speeds as low a 1/60th of a second (though the reliability of shots at this speed is low). This opens up more avenues to balance the flash with the ambient light, hopefully creating an effective lighting setup.

Here are more shots from today:

A short while ago I wrote a tutorial on how to photograph insects. That essay was focused on using a digital SLR, and shared a lot of material with an earlier essay that covered insect photography using a film SLR. (The digital SLR essay is in this blog, click here to see it.)

To round things out, I was planning to write an essay on insect photograph done with a ‘prosumer’ digital camera. By that I mean digital cameras with a built in zoom lens, that, unlike digital SLR’s, won’t allow the user to change optics.

I’ve used a Nikon Coolpix 990 for insect photography for several years, and while this camera has seen a lot less used in the last couple of years (since I started using the Pentax *ist-D digital slr) it still accounts for a disproportionate percent of what I would consider my best insect shots.

All of the photographs that appear in this essay were taken with the Nikon Coolpix 990.

So while I originally planned to write about using prosumer digital cameras for insect close-ups, I realize that would be over reaching. I only have experience using the Nikon CP990, and given the vast array of digital cameras available, its hard to say how relevant that experience is. So, I’ll limit my remarks to the CP990, and if they are relevant to other digital point and shoot cameras, great. If not – I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Working with the CP990 for insect closeups is completely diffferent than working with an SLR – film or digital. Here’s a summary of the major difference between the two platforms:

● Distance to subject: The CP990 has to get very close to the subject to get a full frame shot, and the smaller the subject, the closer the camera has be. How close? In the essay on photographing insects with the Pentax *ist-D, I demonstrated a full frame shot of a fishing fly taken at a distance of abbout 12 inches. To fill the frame on the CP990 with the same fly, the camera has to be about 1.5 inches away. That’s close!

You’d expect that having to get that close to the subject would result in most of them getting scared away. This can be a challenge but since you are able to hold the camera away from your body (see the point below) its not as much of an issue as you might expect. I guess a relatively small camera coming in towards a bug is less threatening that a large camera held at eye level by a person.

To get this close, the camera must be set to macro mode. Many prosumer digicams have a close up mode, and some more useful than others. If your camera does not have a closeup mode, you can try using close up filters or reverse mounting a 50mm lens (from a 35mm SLR) onto the lens. 

● Handling of the camera: Working with the Coolpix 990 is a totally different experience than working with an SLR. This is true for many prosumer digitals. Since you can use the LCD to compose the shot, you are liberated from having to keep your eye to the finder. This means that you can get shots anywhere that you can reach.

A few days ago I commented on being unable to photograph a black damselfly that had flow higher and higher as I approached it. Had I been using the Coolpix it would not have been a problem – as long as it was in reach I could have gotten the shot.

Here are two examples where this kind of camera handling has come in handy. In the case of the Eastern Tailed Blue (‘Lil Blue’) above, the insect had worked its way into a cluster dense vegetation. I was able to snake my hand, with the camera, in after it. Because the distance between the butterfly and the camera was so small (the butterfly was less and an inch in size) I was able to postion the camera free of any intervening branches from the plant. As a result, using the Coolpix resulted in an insect photograph that simply would not have been possible using an SLR.

This blye dasher dragonfly is another example of a shot that would have been impossible with an SLR. In this case the dragonfly was up high, perched on a very tall plant stalk. I’m over 6 feet tall and can easlily reach up to 8 feet or so, but I was standing on my tip toes to get this shot. If it had to hold the camera at eye level to use a finder, I would have need to bring a ladder to get this!

● Depth of Field: This term refers to the area within the photograph that appears to be in focus. As you move in for a close up, the depth of field gets smaller. Without going into the mathematics, this is because depth of field is a function a magnification. The more you magnify your subject, the less depth of field. Depth of field is increase by working at smaller aperture sizes – the more you stop down, the greater the depth of field. Of course – the more you stop down, the less light that passes through to the camera, and the longer the shutter speed.

This creates the classic problem for macro photographers. It’s always a struggle to get enough depth of field to get the critical elements of the subject in focus, while maintaining a shutter speed fast enough to freeze the action of the subject.

Fortunately the Nikon Coolpix 990, and other prosumer digitals, do very well in regards to depth of field. The reason is because these cameras use a very small sensor to record the image. For example, the sensor in the Coolpix 990 is approximately 7 x 5.5 mm in size – a mere fraction of the size of a 35mm film frame (35 x 24 mm) or of the ‘APS’ sized sensors in digital SLR’s (about 22 x 15 mm).

Because the sensor is so small, the subject is magnified less, and the depth of field at any given f stop is much greater. The result is that images taken at f8 or f11 have a DOF comparable to f 16 or smaller on an SLR. This means that you can shoot with the lens more open, enjoy a faster shutter speed, and also be able to retain a usable amount of depth of field.

But, this can be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand its great to be able to get a close-up with the whole subject in focus, and the increased depth of field is a real boon for very small subjects shot at very close distances. On the other hand, if you want to isolate your subjects by throwing the background out of focus, the tremendous depth of field in prosumer digitals can become a hindrance. In insect photography this is especially the case for larger subjects – like large butterflies or dragonflies – where the degree of magnification of the subject is very small, so the depth of field extends out for long distances. Here is an exampleof a shot were the backgroun - though quite far away - just never got burred out. Though the shot is acceptable, the distracting background is a real detriment.

● Image Quality: My Nikon Coolpix 990 is a pretty old camera (introduced about 6 years ago!) Since it was introduced, digital camera manufacturers have made huge advances in image quality, improving the color accuracy, decreasing the noise levels, increasing sharpness, and increasing the range of light the camera can capture. Despite its age, I’ve be consistently happy with the results of the Coolpix 990 at ISO 100. (At higher settings the amount of digital noise becomes a problem.) 

Just like the sensor size affects depth of field, there are some aspects of image quality that are also affected by sensor size. For example, the sensor in the CP990 has about half the number of pixels as the sensor in my digital SLR, but the physical size of the sensor is about on third of that in the SLR. Obviously, this means that the individual photo sensors in the Coolpix are smaller and packed more tightly.

This physical aspect of the sensor has two effects on image quality, both of which are observable. For one thing, the small sensors can resolve more detail. In typical shooting situations, the advantage of being able to resolve more detail is wasted, simply because the lens is projecting such a small image onto the sensor, there isn’t a lot of detail there to be captured. But when shooting macros, with very high magnification and relatively simple subjects, this ability to capture detail is a great boon. My Coolpix, for example, seems to be much better at resolving the individual cells in insects compound eyes, compared to either film or my digital SLR.

On the flip side, the smaller sensor size usually results in increased noise. More light hits the larger individual photo cells in larger sensors, and so the signal (amount of light) to noise (amount of background interference) ratio is greater. The camera’s microprocessor can better figure out what is noise, and what is the actual photograph, and the result is a much less noisy image.

So in terms of image quality there is a real trade off, between the improved detail and resolution in the prosumer digital vs the increased noise. Personally, as it applies to insect photography, I’ve been satisfied with the results of the Coolpix 990, and suspect that more modern digicams will produce much better images still.

● Lighting: The ability take control over lighting is a key element in most forms of photography. When shooting static subjects, this can be accomplished with diffusers and reflectors. When shooting dynamic subjects – and nothing is more dynamic that insects on the wing – this usually calls for flash.

Unfortunately, I see this as the Achilles’ heal of the prosumer digital camera for insect close-ups. When using an SLR, the working distance between the subject and camera makes it relatively easy to use a flash to illuminate the subject. As noted in the earlier essay on insect photography with a DSLR, when using a 200mm macro lens and focusing in on an insect just 1 inch in size, the working distance between the front of the lens and the insect is approximately 1 foot. When shooting large butterflies or dragonflies, 2 or 3 feet of working room is the norm. This room make it possible to position a flash in the best place possible to illuminate the subject and close background.

The very small working distances of a prosumer digicam greatly complicate the use of flash. For the smallest subjects, those within just an inch or two of the camera, its almost impossible to squeeze in the light of a flash at an angle that works. The problem is not so pronounced with larger subjects, but even then you are working with inches of space vs. feet.

That’s not to say that it can’t be done – it’s just that the working distance makes it more complicated. Personally, I never setup a flash system for the Coolpix 990, and instead relied on diffusers or my own shadow to soften the light enough to get a good shot. I also would shoot on days where the natural light was bright but diffuse – high overcast days. Sometimes this resulted in shots that were too flat, but often times just using the diffuser worked well:

That stands in stark contrast to the SLR world, where you have great flexibility in flash setup. For example, I shot this image on film using a dual macro flash setup – a 75 / 25 % power ratio between two flashes positioned to the left and the right of the lens. It was an unagainly and awkward system – something I ultimately quit using in the field – but it remains an option due to the working room afforded by SLR setups.

I think this covers the main aspects of my experiences with the Nikon Coolpix 990 for insect ph

otography, and how they compare to using an SLR. In any event, as mentioned at the start of this essay, some of my best insect photgrafy has been accomplished with the CP 990, so if you have a prosumer digital on hand and are interested in shooting bugs, by all means make use of it. With the right technique, it should produce first rate images.

Today I ventured out to the Allegan Forest, hoping to get a few good insect photographs. Its been warm in west Michigan these last few days, and while the heat wave seems to have passed, I was optimistic that the warm weather would finally release many species of insects from their torpor.

Overall, things have improved, and the number and availability of subjects today was much better than just a few days ago. We now have many dragonflies – Whitetails, Pondhawks, Meadowhawks – plus numerous butterflies – Spicebush, Tiger Swallowtail, and Wood Nymphs. And the more mundane species – the flies and beetles and moths – are also out in force.

My first stop of the day was to a favorite field off 44th street. This is the field where I recently encountered the Olympia Marble Wing. I last visited it just a few days ago, but as with all tings in the natural world it is constantly changing. Today I was surprised to find the first few blossoms of coreopsis and vetch among the greening grasses. In a few weeks this field will be a haven for Fritillaries and Spicebush butterflies, along with dragonflies, bees, and other insects. This is also a haven for Indigo Buntings and other songbirds, who nest in the cottonwood saplings that line the edge of this field.

Whatever the future may hold, today things were dead here. I ate my lunch, and moved on to another location.

Since the lupine is in bloom, I decided to visit a recently cleared area that is being re-established as an oak savanna. Last year the blue lupine was thick throughout this area, and covered what seemed to be several acres. This year there was much less of this wildflower, with scattered but sizeable clusters of the plant popping up at random in the field. I pulled over and hiked down a two track into the woods that surrounds this field.

I was impressed at how much grass grew in the forest. In some clearings, I thought that my lawn at home should look so good. Unlike many other natural areas where native plants abound, the Allegan Forest still harbors the remains of the imported plants that previous inhabitants brought.

It was in this clearing that I spotted a the dragonfly shown at the top of this post, along with several darners, twelve spotted skimmers, and a few whitetails. All of these insects perched low, and the shot I got of the black meadowhawk was taken laying on the ground, since it was perched just a few inches up.

I ventured a bit further into the woods, found a curious artifact (the seat board from an outhouse) and moved on. I then stopped a short distance away in along the edge of an oak savanna that is the home of many Karner Blue butterflies. Its still pretty early to see any Karner Blues, but American Coppers, various dragonflies, and other interesting insects were on hand. I snapped one shot of a blue butterfly on lupine – perhaps a Karner Blue, perhaps not – and proceeded to encounter a female Pondhawk dragonfly devouring a small blue butterfly – again, perhaps a Karner, perhaps not.

As I made my way through the field I also stumbled upon a few orange moths. There were pretty interesting, with their striking blue eyes, but after combing through my field guides and online I’m at a loss to identify them.

Every spring it seems that I re-learn the same lessons. Today I neglected to wear a hat, and despite wafting some OFF around my head, the blackflies were quick to land and bite. I always think of wearing a hat as protection against the heat – but in reality its most valuable in protecting against noxious biting insects.

I also missed about 2 square inches on the back of my left hand when applying the insect repellent. Silly me – but I swear every black fly in the forest found that spot!

Technical details – all shots taken with the standard insect setup, Pentax *ist-D and A* 200mm f4 macro. A few more out takes from the day:

One of these days I’ll go on an insect safari, and will spend hour after hour photographing every kind of bug imaginable. It will be like swimming in a sea of champagne, and when I’m old and gray I’ll talk about it, like the Old Man who talked about seeing the lions on the beach in Africa.

But till then, I’ll have to settle on stealing an hour here and there. Like a shoplifter dropping trinkets into his pockets, I resign myself to small portions, tidbits taken now and then.

Today I managed to squeeze out about 45 minutes of shooting time. In part, it’s my own fault – I spent too much time in front of the computer screen, much of it tending to this website. Just fix a few broken links, correct the spelling here, upload this, download that, whack the router and try to coax the network back to life...

But some things are beyond my control. Today I visited the municipal park where I shot the Eastern Hog Nose Snake last week. Its a good site – about 800 acres, lots of wetlands, and path entwined around well fields and pumping stations. I got to the park late – about 4 p.m. – hoping the recent warm spell would finally release dragonflies and other interesting insects. Unfortunately, as soon as I arrived the skies turned dark, thunder rumbled, and the winds picked up.

When it comes to rain, I always experience a sense of certainty about when and where it will hit. I always know how long to wait, how far to hike out before turning back, and how to time my return to shelter. As a result of this certainty, I get drenched a lot. When I’m out photographing I always carry a plastic bag for my camera – protection against the inevitable dousing.

Today I was luckier than average. The sky was dark and the weather was heavy, thundered rumbled non-stop, but there was little rain. I wandered a half mile or so down the trail before a brief drizzle set in. I settled into a patch of heavy woods, and was fortunate to get a few shots of a black damselfly – an Ebony Jewelwing . This is one of the most difficult of damselflies to photograph, and I while I’m happy with today’s result, I’m not sure I really captured the subject. One of the great characteristics of this damselfly is that it combines a dark black – green color, with a tremendous iridescence. When flying in direct sunlight, these insects look like tiny bolts of green lighting. The shots I got today show the reflectivity in the wings – thanks to the flash - which creates a somewhat distorted perspective, since the wings are black except in direct light.

In my experience, these insects are difficult to stalk and shoot. They are wary, and fly off once you get within a few feet. The also tend to drift upwards, and while a promising subject may not stray far from its territory, it will continue to rise up to higher perches as you pursue it. Once the insects is above 5 feet up, its hard to get a decent shot.

Today things worked out pretty well. Although the heavy clouds resulted in increasingly dark lighting exposures, I managed to get a couple decent shots of blacked winged damselflies, plus a nice shot of a so far unidentified species.

After the sudden drizzle, and a flurry of activity on my part, the really dark clouds and loud thunder rolled in. Contrary to past experience, I timed things right, and as I pulled out of the parking lot after a mere 45 minutes of shooting, the sky opened up and torrents of rain fell., and the thunderstorms have continued these last several hours.

This will break the hot spell. Tomorrow I hang a show for a local exhibit, and follow with business meetings in the afternoon. So Thursday is my next chance to try for that insect safari – it will be cool by then, but maybe I'll find some dragons sleeping on the beach near Swan Creek. 

Technical details: all shots taken with Pentax *ist-D, A* 200mm macro, flash.

To paraphrase Will Rogers, ‘I never met a field guide I didn’t like.’

I guess its important to have the latest and the greatest field guide, but in truth nothing changes much from edition to edition. Range maps change – you won’t find house finches in the mid west in guides from 30 years ago – but the images and keys to identifying subjects stay the same.

So I’m a fan of picking up what ever field guides I can find. Used bookstores often have older editions at bargain prices, and the way I see it, the more pictures and descriptions you have of a subject, the more likely you are to figure out what it is.

As I’ve mentioned before, its usually pretty easy to identify mammals and plants from field guides. Unlike insects – where there are literally millions of species and many have different markings based on gender and age (not to mention the larval, nymph, and adult stages of development) – mmamals and plants shoudl be easy.

So why can’t I identify this flower?

I’m probably looking at a common species, but missing something obvious. For one thing, I don’t know if this is a wild flower or cultivated specimen. I found a patch of these in the Allegan Forest, in a location I described last week. In short, this is a place that has all the vestiges of past cultivation of decorative plants – there are patches of prickly pear cactus, iris, palm, European Lily of the Valley, and now wild strawberries. This is one of the few areas in the Allegan Forrest where there is a trace of a building foundation – now over grown (you really need to visit in the winter to find the slight remains of buildings uncluttered with overgrown underbrush.)

So – what is it? Beats me. The flowers were 1 to 2 inches across, and grew on grass like stalks. I’ll keep consulting the field guides – but perhaps this is truly the last of the spring wildflowers for 2006.

Technical details: shots taken with Pentax *ist-D and Kiron 105mm f2.8 macro lens.

So far the spring of 2006 has been disappointing for insect photography. After weeks of cold and wet weather, things are finally warming up. However, the insect population has yet to really burst onto the scene. My most recent trips out looking for insect subjects have been disappointing.

Yesterday I went to the Allegan Forest and visited several areas along 46th street. The lupine is out in full force, and crops up in several areas. I first visited some open fields, which in a few weeks will be full of coreopsis and vetch. These have been areas that have been fruitful in the past, and while I caught a few glimpses of Monarchs, Spicebush, and Tiger Swallowtail butterflies, I had no luck getting shots.

After hitting a few wooded areas that are usually (but not now) full of dragonflies, I settled on shooting along Swan Creek. I’ve always viewed this area with high expectations for Odonata. The creek spawls out and fills several acres in this area – with a deep channel and shallow flooded shelves on both sides. There is a levy about 30 to 50 feet across, that runs along the creek, and a small dam that regulates the flow of water both down stream and into a flooded, marshy wildlife refuge. I’ve seen wild otters in the creek here, and Osprey and Eagles nest in the refuge. A path runs along the top of the levy, ultimately rising into a mixed forest.

The mix of wetlands, the open trail, and forest all seem ideal for odonata. Yesterday, at least, there were a fair number of damselflies along the levy path. It was a cool and blustery day, and the insects hung low, usually lighting on grass stalks just a few inches above the ground. As is often the case with insect photography, I spent the time lying or crawling on the ground, trying to keep the camera down low enough to get a clear shot of the damselflies.

Today I again returned to the Allegan Forest, this time to work a large field along 48th street. This is one of the few areas in the preserve that shows traces of its past. There is a small corner of a building foundation visible in the field, but more significantly, the vegetation shows the influence of past cultivation. The open field has large areas of wild strawberries, huge patches of prickly pear cactus, and a few areas of iris, just starting to bloom. The woods are full of European Lily of the Valley, and spiky palms – the type used in potted plant arrangements - stick up out of the grass.

Here I found a few butterflies, a several caterpillars, tiger moths, lots of grasshoppers and lacewings.

And in the “eeeeew gross!’ department -- The high point of the day was the discovery of a few ticks, hanging onto grass blades, waiting for a host to come along (someone like me would do nicely!) Like anyone who spends a lot of time in the out of doors in the spring and early summer, I have had my share of encounters with wood ticks. Though I douse my clothes (and myself) with DEET, the sight of a tick creeping up my pant leg or shirt is all too common. I knew that these creatures waited for hosts on plant stalks, and have wanted to get a shot of them in this situation. So today I was actually happy when I caught sight of first one, and then another, Dog Tick doing exactly that – sitting at the end of a grass stalk, legs outstretched, waiting for a host.

 

I managed to get passable shots of both – which turned out to be a male and a female. I was interested to see that they waited with their heads down, opposite of what I had imagined. I had switched from the standard 200mm macro, to a 100 mm lens. Photographing the vey small ticks – they are about 1/4th of inch in size – was a challenge, especially given the blustery wind. Ultimately, I got the shots, and was happy to take the photos, and leave the ticks behind!

While the shots form today and yesterday are OK - and the tick shots in particular illustrate an interesting behavior - I'm still waiting for the first top notch shot of the season. Well - the weather is finally getting warm... Technical details: All shots, except the ticks, were taken with the insect photography setup, consistent of a Pentax *ist-D, SMC A * 200mm macro, and flash. Ticks were shot with the *ist-D and Kiron 105mm f2.8 macro, tripod mounted with no flash.

Here are a few more images from yesterday:

Here’s a passable shot of a Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsolete). It's a near miss - almost, could of been good, but not. That blinkity-blank blade of grass poking up in front of the snake's nose, ruins what otherwise would be a nice portrait. To my eye, that one blade of grass really tanks this shot.

 don’t often see Black Rat Snakes, so the chance to shoot them in the wild is pretty uncommon. This one was particularly nice, because it was so big. I’d estimate its overall length at approximately 6 feet. I was in the Allegan Forest, trying to photograph insects, and was stumbling around a Honeysuckle bush hoping to get a shot of a tiger swallowtail butterfly. I did not get the shot, and amazingly did not trample this snake who was just laying in the grass, watching me. The snake was incredibly docile, and I actually pushed aside some of the grass in order to get down to eye level with in, in hopes of getting a decent shot.

If only I had looked more closely at the LCD after shooting! Oh well… Since this follows on the heels of another snake shot, I dipped into the archives and pulled out one where I managed to do it right. This Red bellied Water snake was sunning itself on an early spring morning, and once again I got down to eye level (literally laying on the ground) to get a portrait. The water snake was not as docile as the Rat Snake – after a few blasts with the flash he came charging at the camera. Looking through the camera’s finder, there is something rather primal about the sight of an open mouthed snake striking out at the front of the lens!

The water snake was shot on slide film, the rat snake on a DSLR.

All of the snake shots (these plus the Hognose) were taken with the insect photography setup described elsewhere. With snakes, and other herpetological subjects, the reach of a 200mm macro lens certainly comes in handy!

….a.k.a. Eastern Hognose Snake (Heterodon platyrhinos) Yesterday I managed to slip away for an hour or so of nature shooting.

I went to a nearby city park, hoping to get some insect shots. I only took my insect rig, since I knew that any more elaborate shooting would be out of the question due to the time constraint.

Well, the bugs were a bust. I followed a few Pearl Crescents around, but came up with no good shots. Aside form one or two female white tailed dragonflies, I saw no Odonata. I finally stepped a few feet off the trail, into the wild garlic mustard, in hopes of snagging a shot of a good sized fly on leaf. “Wow,” I thought, “that fly sure does have a loud hiss!” then I looked down and saw this fellow a few inches from my hand.

Michigan has only one venomous snake, and even that is fairly uncommon, so there is no need to worry about the snake you run into in the field. Odd are, they are more scared of you than you are of them. Since this was a more interesting subject, I stepped back and grabbed a few shots. The species is readily identifiable as an eastern Hognose snake, based on its upturned nose. This specimen is puffing up its head and neck area in threat display / bluff. I just grabbed a couple of shots, and being out of time anyhow, moved along.