Starting a photographic category...mmm...it sounds familiar!
Dendroaspis, those are great photos but try and refrain from having the head dead centre. Rather have it in one of the 1/3 corners. The last photo works better because there is more body in the photo. Also, you are allowed in MOST competitions to sharpen the photos slightly. Digital cameras have a natural unsharpness and you are allowed to compensate for it, even in the strictest competitions.
My photo (Mfezi):Criticism VERY welcome! My view is biased so I would like you input. My own personal crits are:
The twigs on the horizon bothers me a bit.
The termite mound is nice to have but should be somewhere else on the photo as it distracts from the head outline.
And someone else commented (on ODP) on the flash reflection, which doesn't bother me too much but I can see that it will bother some people.
The "large" grasses in front looks out of proportion.
Fire away....
Just a little tip when photographing in a room where you have very unnatural background. You can either use a very shallow DOF (Aperture = F5.6 to about F11) which will blur the background, or a very deep one (F22 - F32) which will limit the light and cause the BG to become dark or black. Bear in mind that these values are are not really applicable to cameras with really small sensors (small compact mik-en-druk cameras). They are specifically for DSLR cameras. The principles stay the same but the range differs a bit for small cameras.
Eg.
I personally don't like this for diurnal snakes, but it is still better that a wall. (1/250 + flash; F20)
It is not ideal as it still looks unnatural, but better than having a wall for a BG. (1/250 + flash; F5.6; same room as the green mamba)
We must remember that a photograph can hold just as much as we put into it, and no one has ever approached the full possibilities of the medium - Ansel Adams