Work Record Shoot 1

Contact Sheet

My Best Images 

AO3: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.

My intention in this shoot is to capture close-up detailed macro images of two specific sensory organs in a snake and in this way highlight their unusual sensory abilities, which are very different from how we perceive the world. The sensory organs are:

1) Snakes forked tongues. These are flicked out to pick up chemical particles in the air, which are then deposited into a sensory organ in the roof of their mouth to be analysed. As there is a separate compartment for each tongue fork they can detect any differences between two areas at one time and this allows them to identify gradients in the scents and therefore the direction it is coming from. They therefore smell in 3 Dimensions and I will capture freeze frame images of the snakes doing this.

2) Snakes pit organs, which enable them to have thermal vision. In some snakes such as the Royal Python, also referred to as a Ball Python, these pits are very distinctive, occurring in a grill like row just above its mouth. By highlighting this feature on the snakes face I will emphasise how they experience the world as they look like a row of embedded solar panels. This visually connects them with the way the pit organs absorb heat which is how they work by capturing the infrared radiation that warm objects emit. This allows them to see other animals even when there is complete darkness.

There are a number of methods I will use to create my images, to focus on the sensory experience. Firstly, I will focus attention on these sensory organs on the snakes head by creating detailed macro images that clearly show the detail of the sensory organs. I will use a narrow depth of field to focus attention on them. I will use the freeze frame technique to capture images of the fork in the tongue as well as the perception of motion. I will also illustrate the way the tongue flicks up and down by creating an Animated Gif of the tongue flick. I will compose images so that the snake is looking directly towards the camera and in this way make the viewer more conscious of the fact that they are emitting heat and this is how the snake knows they are there. Finally, I will link the images to that of images of a hamster which I will adapt in Photoshop to look like a thermal image. I will make the warm parts of its body glow orange/yellow to indicate the heat that is coming from it so this can be compared to the blue colour of the colder background.

I am happy with the progress I have made capturing detailed images of the sensory organs. My use of a macro lens and good lighting (from a nearby light box) allowed me to capture many images of the pit organs. I experimented with focusing more closely in on the snake to see how close I could go and still have good quality images. I think the closest up image works best here as the pits become even more eye catching the closer you get, and by dominating the frame, focus attention on it. It also enhances the experience of seeing and feeling the texture of the snakes skin. This makes the image feel more realistic and interesting as you can see the individual scales on the skin and almost feel its smooth and silky skin. This aids the viewer in connecting with the image, as it feels realistic and makes it more intense.

Using a shallow depth of field and focusing on the narrow area around the snout initially proved difficult as the snake moved so quickly. This was particularly difficult to get right with the tongue flicks as I had to anticipate them happening and take a burst of images. This meant that I had to go through hundreds of images to find the ones that were useful. However with the practice I had in preparatory shoot 6, I gradually became more effective at capturing this, sometimes having to use bursts of images. 

I have used various perspectives to capture the snakes pit organs but while I felt it was good to show that the pits curved around the mouth giving the snake a wider angle of sensing its environment, I felt that this reduced the impact and mood created in the image. The images where the snake was facing the camera and appearing to look directly at the viewer I felt were more effective. They make the viewer feel as through the snake is detecting their presence and in this way make the viewer more conscious of the fact that they are emitting heat. This helps them relate to the sensory experiences the snake is having. In some people who are afraid of snakes it may also make them feel slightly intimidated, even though these snakes are not venomous. This will also help them in imagining how a snake would use the thermal vision it gets from its pit organs to hunt prey.

I captured the images of the tongue flicks using the freeze frame technique so that this would convey the motion of the action to the viewers. It is difficult to see with the naked eye how long snakes tongues are as well as how forked they are, as they flick them so quickly. They can also control the direction of their flick as is shown in this image where the snake has directed its tongue towards my hand as I hold it. This image also illustrates the length of a snakes tongue as well as showing the snake tasting the scent of something specific that interests it. The image could have portrayed this better if it was more obvious that it was a hand, this I could have achieved if I had not cropped the image so much.

Images requiring Improvement

In this image I have not been able to focus the narrow depth of field on the snakes tongue, and instead it is focused behind its eyes. The problem with using this technique is that the snake moves quickly and you have to anticipate it flicking its tongue and this means that the tiny delay in pressing the shutter allows the snake time to move forward. I eventually solved this problem by taking a few bursts of images and trying to anticipate the snake’s forward movement and adjusting my camera focus.

AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.

The camera I used is my Nikon D5300 DSLR. Although I usually use a tripod to take my images, with the snakes very low to the ground and being extremely agile, unfortunately this wasn't possible.  For the camera settings I set the ISO as low as possible in order to prevent noise and in order to capture specific details in sharp focus I chose a smaller f stop. In this shoot most of the images I took were close up and I also used a macro lens.

In order to ensure I have sufficient quality and control of lighting I made use of a light box. A diagram of the set-up of this is shown in my preparatory shoot 1. It was important to get the lighting right as it controls the transition of light to shadow and it is this that creates the perception of depth and adds form and interest to an image as well as influencing the mood it evokes. It was therefore important that I set the lighting up well, as I wanted to create images that looked real so that viewers could connect more with them.

I have used a number of photographic techniques in this shoot, including:

A narrow depth of field – to focus attention on a specific part of the frame

Macro lens – to capture detail not easily visible with normal eyesight

Use of controlled lighting set-up – to improve the quality of the images

Freeze frame – to capture motion

Animated Gif – to illustrate the motion in a captivating way with movement

Framing – to focus attention onto my subject

Leading lines – to direct the viewer’s attention

Perspective – to change viewpoints to make the images more interesting

Incorporation of form, pattern and texture into the image – to make the subjects seem more realistic

I also arranged to have access to a number of props, including:

A male Ball python snake- Desert Ghost morph

A female Ball python snake – Emperor Pinstripe morph

A male and female Western Hognose snake

A snake’s hideaway

The main location I used in this shoot was the flat of a friend who owns the snakes and where I had arranged to take images of them. I therefore took my camera equipment and lighting to use at this location.

I used the technique of a narrow depth of field in order to focus attention in the image on the snakes tongue flick and their pit organs. By using a small f-stop focused on these features of a snake’s head I kept them in sharp focus and prevented other parts of the image acting as a distraction by blurring them.  From my preparatory shoots 6 and 7, I had gained experience using this technique with the snakes as subjects and therefore knew that it was difficult to capture as snakes have very rapid tongue flicks and also move quickly. This meant the area I wanted to capture was not always in sharp focus. I had learned from my preparatory shoot experience that in order to capture the tongue flicks I had to anticipate them happening, as if I waited to see them starting then I would usually miss them. Also to capture the snakes pit organs in sharp focus, this took numerous attempts as the snake were in constant movement while the images were being taken. This meant that I took many hundreds of images to ensure I captured the images exactly as I wanted.

I experimented with different points of view so that the perspective of the snake was varied within my images. In some the snake is captured side on and in others it is face on to the camera. This allows the viewer to see how the pit organs wrap around the sides of a snakes face. This is illustrated with the images below.

  
In these images of the male and female Ball python the shallow depth of field focuses attention on the snakes pit organs and the different perspectives captured of the snake show that its pit organs are present not just on the front of its face but also wrap around its snout area to cover both sides and this provides the snake with a wider angle of sensory information about its environment and the animals present there.

These images are a considerable improvement on my initial attempts in my preparatory shoot 6 and 7. The shallow depth of field in these images is more accurately focused on the snakes pit organs and not slightly behind or in front of them, as in some of the preparatory images. This was achieved with the experience gained through the practice of capturing images of a moving subject that I have gained.

I also used the technique of freeze frame to capture images of the snakes as they flick their forked tongues out to taste scents in the air.

  In this image the female hognose has flicked its tongue out, as it tastes the scent of the male hognose. The two forks in the tongue can be clearly seen as the tongue is black in colour and the floor is light. Also there is a wide distance between the ends of the two forks in this image, which illustrates how the snake smells in 3D by tasting the scents from the two adjacent areas of the forks. This can be seen as the tongue is almost touching the ground to determine the concentration gradient of the scent to see which direction the other snake has gone. I have also used a narrow depth of field in this image to focus attention on the tongue flick by keeping this in sharp focus and blurring the background.

Having used the technique of a shallow depth of field to focus attention on a specific part of the subject I felt that I could emphasise this more by combining this with other techniques to direct the viewer’s attention there. These techniques include framing and the use of leading lines. 

In this image I focused attention on the tongue flicks by framing the action using the entrance to its hide, which the snake was about to exit from. The male hognose snake here is flicking its tongue out to taste the air to experience and determine what other creatures are close by before it decides to leave its position of safety in the hide. In shoot 6 I had captured a similar image with the female hognose snake but its black tongue was not so distinctive against the darker colour of the cave and hide. I therefore choose a different snake in this shoot and used the male hognose which has lighter colouring and a pink tongue in order to see this better. The entrance to the hide not only serves as a frame for the snake and focuses attention on it, but also draws attention to the function of the tongue flick as it emphasises the snake is testing for something before emerging from its safe cave.

An additional technique I used to further improve the focus of the image and direct the viewer’s attention where I wanted it was to use a leading line. In this image I am holding the snake in my hand, which allowed me to position it better and meant the snake was focused on scenting my camera and I. I used the leading line of my arm and hand, coming from the bottom right of the frame to the top left, to lead the viewer’s eye. Then in the centre of the frame I interrupt their line of vision by placed the snake’s head with its forked tongue emerging from it. I managed to capture this image by waited until the snake tasted me with its tongue and managed to capture this by taking a burst of images. I keep the focus on the snakes head and tongue by using sharp focus and a narrow depth of field.  While this image may seem a little over exposed this helps to focus attention on the tongue, due to the high contrast area of the black tongue against the light skin.

I wanted to convey to viewers what a snake would actually see with thermal vision, how this would visually look. So I used Photoshop to adapt an image I had taken to make it appear as though it was a thermal image and this would illustrate how a snake views its world through its pit organs. I took an image of a small rodent, which is a common prey of some snakes and used my pet hamster for this purpose. I then adapted it in Photoshop, using a gradient map, and adjusted the colours to suit how much heat would be emitted from the rodent's body and its surroundings. The warmest parts of her body were coloured yellow/orange, while the cooler parts were blue/purple. By creating this I highlight the heat coming from an animal’s body, which is how the snakes detect their prey, particularly in the dark, which is often when, they hunt. This image links and connects with the previous images of the snakes pits organs as they illustrate the sensory information the pit organs receive, and so links the organ with the experience it provides. 

AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.

Research Influence

I have found inspiration for this shoot from my research on the work of a number of wildlife photographers including Ross McGibbon, Clay Bolt and Mohammad Roem.  I was particularly influenced by the way they used a macro lens to capture close up detail of the reptiles they photographed. I felt that this made the images more captivating as I could clearly see detail that was not easily seen when looking with my naked eye. Their images therefore immediately grabbed my attention.

I was particularly influenced by the Australian photographer Ross McGibbon and his images of snakes in their natural habitat. The image below is one he has taken of a Golden Tree Snake as it flicks out its tongue into the air. This is how snakes sense their environment, by collecting any chemical particles in the air or the ground with their tongue and depositing them for analysis into its Jacobson's Organ in the roof of their mouth. Snakes tongues do not have any receptors to detect taste or smell but the fork in it allows them to collect information from two different areas at the one time and from analysing this they can form a gradient of the scents/particles which indicates the direction it came from. This image therefore captures the snake as it performs the sensory experience of smelling in 3 Dimensions by tasting the air with its tongue and so allows them to follow prey or to find mates.  

McGibbon has used a fast shutter speed to capture the action of the tongue flick in freeze frame as I have done in my images. He has also used a narrow depth of field to focus attention onto the head of the snake and blur the rest of the frame. By doing this he makes the snake’s head and its forked tongue dominate the image. I have been influenced by this and have used a narrow depth of field in my images of snakes tongue flicks in a similar way to McGibbon. In addition to this technique I was also captivated by the detail in his images, you can see the snake’s individual scales and almost feel the texture of its smooth and silky skin and the wetness of its tongue. This influenced me in choosing to use close up macro photography just, as McGibbon and the other wildlife photographers have done. In this way I can capture the beauty in the snake and the detail in the process, and this will make the image more realistic and allow the viewers to connect more with the image.

I have also been inspired by McGibbon’s work as well as Muhammad Roem, who is a wildlife photographer from Indonesia, to capture another aspect of a snake’s extraordinary sensory abilities. This is their ability to ‘see’ at night, by detecting the infrared radiation that comes from body heat and which allows them to hunt in the dark. The way they experience this is through their pit organs which are present at the front of their face above their mouth. They can be clearly seen in McGibbon’s image below of a Green Python snake, and are the distinctive row of grooves/pits just above its mouth. When I first saw this image the pit organs were so distinctive that it highlighted to me how different the way they experience their world is from us. Even though snakes have poor eyesight, they can see heat (infrared radiation) in the dark and when I look at this image of the snake pointing its pit organs at me I am conscious that I am irradiating body heat and that it is this will alert the snake to my presence even if it is completely dark.

In my images I have captured macro images focused on the pit organs on a snake’s face, in a similar way to McGibbon’s images using a narrow depth of field. These images I have taken up close so that the detail is captured and the image is made more intimate. I have also been influenced to capture some of my images with the snake pointing directly at the camera as I think this makes it more personal and it makes it appear as though the snake can sense your presence, making you more conscious of your body’s heat and conveys the extreme sensory experience taking place, enhancing the mood of the image.

My research has therefore influenced me to capture detailed close up macro images of the snake tongue caught in freeze frame as it smells in three dimensions or stares towards you attracted by your body heat detected by its pit organs. These images fit with the exam brief of capturing sensory experiences. I have used a number of different techniques to focus attention and lead the viewer to the focal point of my images where I want their attention to be. I have captured up close detail in the images. I have experimented with perspective, focusing in on my subjects to intensify the mood of the image. I have also used a number of different species and morphs of snake to make use of their distinctive pit organs and tongue colours. I have also captured motion in my images by using freeze frame and Animated Gif of the snakes tongue flick and so adding an additional element to the image bringing it more alive to the viewer and allowing them to connect with the realism of it more.

AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.

In this shoot I set out to capture two of the extraordinary sensory experiences a snake has. Their thermal vision achieved through their pit organs on their face and their ability to see in 3 Dimensions by tasting the chemical scents in the air by flicking their tongue out.

I have captured close up detailed macro images of both of these and have experimented with and refined the way they were taken to ensure they conveyed as effectively as possible the sensory experience. My use of a macro lens allowed me to capture detail not easily visible with normal eyesight and this makes the images more captivating and interesting to viewers. It also allows them to experience the look and imagine the feel of the smooth textures and see the pattern and individual scales on the snake’s skin. I have used good quality lighting equipment to ensure that the qualities of the images were good and the light/shadow transition was gradual and realistic and also captured form in my subjects. 

I used various techniques to visually focus on the particular part of the subject in the image to highlight it. These include use of a narrow depth of field, leading lines and framing to focus attention on a specific part of the frame. I have also experimented with different perspectives of my subjects by capturing images with the side on or front facing and zooming in and out of the frame. In this way I have directed the mood and intensity of the image to relate to the experience the snake is having.

I have also used my arm, and another snake, my camera as well as a snake hide to highlight that the snake is sensing its environment and so visually connecting the sensory experience with what is being sensed.

I have also used freeze frame and Animated Gif techniques to capture motion in my images and bring them more visually alive.

I was inspired to take this approach through my research into a number of wildlife photographers especially the Australian Ross McGibbon work but also Muhammad Roem and Clay Bolt, both of whom I have discussed in my research log. McGibbon’s images I have gone into more detailed analysis in my Research Post. It was by viewing their images during my research that encouraged me to undertake further research into how the snake’s extra ordinary senses work that I decided to focus on them in my extraordinary sensory experience shoots. 

I have used my knowledge gained through my Photography studies of the formal elements, various different techniques and the understanding of how to create mood, intensity and interest in images. Then I have used this knowledge to select the most effective techniques to use and experiment with, then critically analyse the images I achieved, then I experimented with changes to adapt and refine images in order to achieve as effective images as possible of the sensory experience I am capturing.