Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, here are a couple pics, I tried to be consistent in their poor quality, so maybe I can get some good tips. I'm guessing there is too low of backlighting and subsequently too much flash, possibly bad color for background......critique away PLEASE!!!! What type of "stages" do you set for your pics, lighting, etc......if nothing works, I'll just have to take everything with me to the next show Celia is at, and beg her to take pics for me!!! LOL, thanks everyone, take care!

Arabesque poss. het albino
Motley 100% Het T Positive(CA Line)
75% Salmontine

You make me jealous with your animals sometimes.
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

For lighting you might want to (if you can't be outdoors) pick up some GE Reveal bulbs which seem to clean up poor color problems.
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Randall L Turner Jr.
Boas make the world go round.

Especially for the tips in IM. Maybe the camera is the biggest problem, picking up the Nikon will prove one way or another though. Thanks again, talk to you soon. Take care

Paul

I am by no means an expert, just to get that out of the way. Does your camera have a macro setting? Depending on the camera, sometimes it is best to use macro for anything 6 feet or closer, and especially for 3 feet away or less. That should put the snakes in better focus. It should be a button or menu option with a fower icon. They are a little fuzzy. The color also looks to be off. That could be your lighting. Play around with different lighting. Good luck with the next round.

Phil Goss

But I am just borrowing this camera as mine was broken by a snake-lol! But, I did have it on mine, and it seemed like my pics were no better even in the macro setting, but it was a HP which IMO don't seem to be top notch for detail shots. Maybe family snap shots, but fine details seem too much for it. The above pics were taken with an HP 5.0 megapixel if that helps anything. Thanks for the help, take care!!!

Paul

>>Okay, here are a couple pics, I tried to be consistent in their poor quality, so maybe I can get some good tips. I'm guessing there is too low of backlighting and subsequently too much flash, possibly bad color for background......critique away PLEASE!!!! What type of "stages" do you set for your pics, lighting, etc......if nothing works, I'll just have to take everything with me to the next show Celia is at, and beg her to take pics for me!!! LOL, thanks everyone, take care!
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>>Arabesque poss. het albino
>>Motley 100% Het T Positive(CA Line)
>>75% Salmontine
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"To be the best..........You must lose your mind."

Color actually looks good to me....but they do look out of focus...maybe check to see that your macro setting is right. What type of camera are you using? Hope this helped, Andy
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Focus is your main problem as has been already stated. Some possibilities -

you are too far away and you're in macro mode

you're too close and not in macro mode.

Are you zooming in? If you are standing back and zooming in and are in macro mode that is also another possibility.

The manual focus may be set at an incorrect distance.

A strong possibility...check what mode your camera is in. Set it to auto if it's on anything but.

Also check to make sure your flash is going off.

If it's none of those... possibly the camera is broken..good luck

- Damian

I can't stop looking at the CA motley.
Dude,that is a killer snake and het T to boot.
Man i wanna see those babies.
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www.repteq.com

I would be happy to take some photos of those beauties!

As for your camera problem, I agree with what some others have mentioned about the pictures being out of focus as the apparent main problem. Are you using the flash when you take the photos? The camera may have problems focusing in low light conditions. The flash should help take care of this or, increasing your lighting by using natural lighting or supplemental lighting may help. If you can, check the shutter speed on the camera too. If the camera is set on a slow shutter speed, that may be your problem.

With most digital cameras, you should be able to get a decent picture in the automatic setting so that the camera will set the shutter speed and aperature for you. If the camera has a hot shoe and you have a speedlight at your disposal, I would recommend trying to use that with the photos to get adequate lighting.

I can't imagine a 5 megapixel camera not having a Macro setting though. You might want to check in the digital menu in the camera. It might be something you have to change in the menu as opposed to manually flipping a switch or pushing a button on the camear. I know some digital cameras have different modes that you have to access through the digital menu in the camera (portrait mode, landsape mode, night time mode, macro mode, etc.).

I hope this helps. If all else fails - I'll see you in Daytona!!

Thanks,
Celia
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Celia Chien
www.ExoticsByNature.com

2006 Boa Constrictor Morphs Calendar
2006 Ball Python Morphs Calendar

One more possibility..Is there something in front of the snakes? Plexi or some such? If there is, it is a strong possibility this is the issue. I was a photographer at an aquariam and often the camera would focus on the glass or plexi rather than what's behind it.

- Damian