rattler 1.jpg
by macawvet

Comment by spiritualspatula:
Couple things I'd recommend for general impact:
Getting lower (even lower than you already did) tends to make shots look more intimidating. You did do a pretty good job with this to begin with. I second the different crop, either a closer crop or in a perfect world include another balancing subject to the frame. With shots like this it lots of times isn't an option though, so no worries.
I would like to see more depth of field, so stop down the aperture so all the coils of the snake are in focus. This could be a judgment call though, because the background might gain too much detail and get distracting, so it's a careful interplay.
As trevytrev said, you might want to use natural light or try to diffuse your supplied light a bit here. It will take some of the harshness out of the shadows. There are lots of DIY diffuser methods out there.
Check out this guy's setup. Super simple but then look at how great the lighting in his macro shots look.

rattler 1.jpg
by macawvet

Comment by trevytrev:
Wicked shot, very intense. I would suggest a different crop, maybe a square crop lining the head in the upper third of the frame, just a preference though. I wonder if you could have taken this without the flash. Was it daylight out? Might you been able to bump the ISO up a bit to get a more natural light instead of flash. Regardless it is a cool shot but I tend to go more on the side of natural light when possible with nature shots since flash is a bit harsh with the shadows. Nice capture.