WOW! Really beautiful shots of one of my favourite cobra species!!!

Especially i love the first picture!

regards
Markus

Thanks Markus.
Much attitude this species. Everything but not calm ;-)

Hi Guenter,

A very nice picture of the N.melanoleuca. What was the setting to take the picture? Animal in his enclosure, with open door / window? Or animal outside the enclosure?

You were by at least two I can imagine?

Thanks a lot.

Cheers

Hi Lucas,

No, it was just a quick shot of the specimen in its enclosure, through the glass. Peters glass is always very clean! The feeding shot was done similarily.

I was alone then and the lighting was a strobe with a 60x60cm softbox from the side (You can see the reflection in the eye if You look carefully). When I am shooting in Peters zoo I usually go around with the strobe mounted onto a tripod and the powersupply is a portable device. Very easy to handle and still an acceptable light source. The strobe is triggered by a system flash on the camera (reduced to about 1/8 ).

Regards,
Guenter

N. sputatrix (thanks Markus!)

Nice shot, he/she looks curious

regards

An one more ... Naja nivea

Nice foto. It's look great.

Very nice i always enjoy your photos

Thanks Mateusz & James!

Amazing photos, the rattle works really well, nice composition!

May I ask how much processing you do?? If any...

Sure You may ask!
It depends on the shot. The wideangle shots (e.g. the Bitis r.) are heavily processed wheras the sputatrix for example is rather little processed.
Next time I'll post both the original and the processed files, to make it more clear.
Thanks!

Well you definately have some nice colours and textures!

Looking forward to more...

Amazing photos, all have artwork.

As promised a before/after example from a fisheye shot at Peter's zoo.

Good job, what is your favorite software to work with raw files ?

Adobe Lightroom.
I usually do multiple RAW conversions (Smart Objects in PS).

Thanks Guenter, nice comparison.

I also like the image before processing, it has a nice abstract quality, like a portal with your reflection in the glass etc...

Another fisheye shot, this time the N. melanoleuca

Sorry, I'm a little late with my comment, but I LOVE the durissus photo!!! It's simply incredible. I am also very fond of the Bitis photo. Thank you for sharing and keeping me inspired to take my own photos, Guenter!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/guenterleitenbauer/6784789222/in/photostream

Well it is time for another shot!
Thanks Peter, as always a pleasure to meet You and do some photography at Your zoo!

sorry, Guenter, but for me there´s a little bit to much photoshopping in your pictures
I like the natural way, to take a picture.
Cheers
Benjamin

No problem Benjamin, in fact in the last one there is no PS except contrast and sharpening ...

I do pictures not photos - for me everything is okay, I do not feel the necessity to do "snake photo journalism"

Thanks Mr Davidson!
Other shots will follow soon.