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cameras are some of the best I've seen, but since I can't afford the new D200...and since I am not a very good photographer and know next to nothing about cameras, I went with something a little more point and shoot when I got my new camera. I figured I'd work myself up to a Nikon D200...

However, my old camera was far more forgiving than my new one.

The camera I had for a couple of years prior is the Nikon Coolpix 4800, which is 4mp & 8.3 zoom. It was pretty nice and I'm sure in the hands of a better photographer, pics could have been far better. Here are a couple using that camera. It allows macro shots down to 1cm. It's a nice little camera, pics seem to be a bit on the cool side colorwise. When I played with the white balance, it seemed that the pics ended up either a bit too cool or a bit too warm, but the shots were very clear.

I've had my new camera a couple of months, a Sony Cybershot DSC-R1, which has 10.3mp and allows for manual or auto zoom/focus, but I have only scratched the surface and really know next to nothing about using it. I set it on macro (this camera requires 14", but the zoom makes up for it) and use the manuaul zoom, and hope for the best. Ca't seem to get the entire shot in focus, it looks more like portrait mode, with part in focus, the background blurry. I would prefer it all to be in focus, like my previous camera, but it is a learning experience. I hope to someday use it to its full potential. Now...if I just had a difuser to prevent flash wash-out. This camera sees too much and offers little forgiveness. For example, with my past camera, taking pics of puppies on the carpet showed dingy blue carpet, with a stain here or there (it was stained up when we moved in and our kids and dogs haven't been easy on it), but with this camera, it sees far better than the human eye, every tiny color difference stands out clearly...I will not be able to take pics of our dogs with this camera, unless they are outside.
Please know...Until I can figure out the focus, I do NO justice to this camera!




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Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...

for my Nikon 4800:


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Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...

the camera thread below, but it took too long to type and I timed out. Didn't realize it kicked me out of the thread.
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Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...

Hey Laura,

Sony R1, very nice. Got me beat megapixel wise . You're right, Nikon's point and shoot lines (new and old) have incredible macro capabilities right out of the box. Although, As I'm sure you know, far better can be achieved when using real macro lenses with a dslr.

If I were you, I would seriously consider getting a white balance card. It is just about the single most important tool in my "camera arsenal". It is especially important for boas, when color accuracy is so critical. Check out www.whibal.com for more info, there are some video guides there that explain the concept much better than I can. My general shooting scenario is: Take a bunch of pictures, which end up looking horrible initially because white balance is so off (generally just for indoor shots)... that turn into incredible photos once white balance is applied.

There are a few factors that determine how much of the shot is in focus. You said that you are having trouble getting the entire shot in clear. The primary issue there is likely lack of light. Im assuming you are shooting in a macro mode, which automaticly selects aperature/shutter speed for you. Generally these modes "open" the lens up, ie get as much of the shot in clear focus as possible, as much as the available light will allow them.

The first thing I would reccomend is to wean yourself off of shooting in these full auto modes. Aperature priority and shutter priority are pretty much all that is needed. For real fancy stuff full manual mode... but dont worry about that now. Aperature priority is likely labeled on your camera with an A. It is a halfway auto mode. You choose the aperature and the camera automaticly selects the appropriate shutter speed to expose the picture right. As you move the aperature to a higher number, the shutter speed will fall. If there is not enough light and you raise the aperature number too high the shutter speed will fall too low, and you will get motion blur, aka hand shake. Therein lies the trick, learning how low you can go in regards to shutter speed. Individuals with very steady hands and good camera holding technique do better than others. The general rule is this: Shutter speed number should be equal to your zoom, or even higher. Meaning, if I am zoomed in at 50mm, I want a shutter speed of 1/50th or higher. At those numbers I should be able to hold the camera steady enough to avoid motion blur.

There is also something called ISO to help with low light problems. That's where dslrs really shine. Read up on that if you are interested. There will be info in your camera manual on it. Learning to shoot in aperature priority is more important at this point.

If you need any additional help, feel free to ask!

>>cameras are some of the best I've seen, but since I can't afford the new D200...and since I am not a very good photographer and know next to nothing about cameras, I went with something a little more point and shoot when I got my new camera. I figured I'd work myself up to a Nikon D200...
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>>However, my old camera was far more forgiving than my new one.
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>>The camera I had for a couple of years prior is the Nikon Coolpix 4800, which is 4mp & 8.3 zoom. It was pretty nice and I'm sure in the hands of a better photographer, pics could have been far better. Here are a couple using that camera. It allows macro shots down to 1cm. It's a nice little camera, pics seem to be a bit on the cool side colorwise. When I played with the white balance, it seemed that the pics ended up either a bit too cool or a bit too warm, but the shots were very clear.
>>
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>>I've had my new camera a couple of months, a Sony Cybershot DSC-R1, which has 10.3mp and allows for manual or auto zoom/focus, but I have only scratched the surface and really know next to nothing about using it. I set it on macro (this camera requires 14", but the zoom makes up for it) and use the manuaul zoom, and hope for the best. Ca't seem to get the entire shot in focus, it looks more like portrait mode, with part in focus, the background blurry. I would prefer it all to be in focus, like my previous camera, but it is a learning experience. I hope to someday use it to its full potential. Now...if I just had a difuser to prevent flash wash-out. This camera sees too much and offers little forgiveness. For example, with my past camera, taking pics of puppies on the carpet showed dingy blue carpet, with a stain here or there (it was stained up when we moved in and our kids and dogs haven't been easy on it), but with this camera, it sees far better than the human eye, every tiny color difference stands out clearly...I will not be able to take pics of our dogs with this camera, unless they are outside.
>>Please know...Until I can figure out the focus, I do NO justice to this camera!
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>>Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...
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Take Care,

-Ryan Homsey

www.topnotchboas.com

I got so wrapped up in explaining how to use aperature priority that I forgot to mention why to use it.

Changing the aperature (often reffered to as "opening up" or "stopping down" controls how much of the picture is in focus. Very low F numbers have low depths of feild, and vice versa. Generally for boa stuff, youll want lots of depth of feild... so high F numbers as possible.

Example:

Outside there is lots of light, so I can pretty much stop down my aperature as much as I want... the shutter speed will stay high enough. Hence, I get very clear shots with lots in focus:

Inside is another story. When shooting with available light I have to open the aperature up (use a lower F number) quite a bit. Which reduces my depth of feild substancially:

*also note the color on these two shots would be horribly off had they not been white balance calibrated with whibal*

(tail out of focus, head in focus)

(Vice Versa)

I've learned to eliminate that problem indoors by using a quality flash. I generally use a flash technique called bouncing, where I point the flash at the ceiling which bounces light down onto the subject. Doing so softens the light while at the same time illuminating the subject perfectly. This is where Nikon's flash system shines (accurate exposures... wireless functions as well):

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Take Care,

-Ryan Homsey

www.topnotchboas.com

came out sounding like so much Greek to me. Perhaps I need to invest in a Photography for Dummies book. Actually, to be more exact, I wish they had a Sony R1 for Dummies book...my manual is not made for dummies, but for the more experienced...it might as well be printed in Greek...

Unfortunately, taking pictures outside is not an option for me. Where we are situated there is only strong, full sunlight, no shading or anything. Outside pictures are all washed out and horrible. Now, I've not tried it with my Sony, but I imagine it would be the same. The backyard is a bit better, but it is the dogs domain...and by dogs I mean mastiffs and it they have seriously uglified the backyard...so, inside it has to be.

I do want to get a bounce flash, I think it would help alot. Unfortunately, I've only seen one bounce flash made for this camera, and I wasn't impressed, it only tilted up a bit instead of the normal bounce range.

As far as ISO and Aperature...if steady hands are required, I'll need to invest in a tripod too. But, a tripod would limit the shots I could take, though I'm sure the ones I did take would be better. Of course, I would need to figure out all the "greek" before the tripod would be of any use.

Sure wish you were closer, so you could give me some "hands on" help with my new beast.
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Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...

clear things up.

There are two primary factors that "expose" a picture, expose meaning getting the brightness right: Shutter Speed and Aperature.

When your camera takes a picture it opens a shutter, which allows light to hit its sensor... which captures the picture. If the shutter is open for a longer period of time, it lets in more light.

Think of aperature as like an eye... it can be a large circle or a small one. Closing or opening up to allow more light in.

When you switch to aperature priority mode, you control exactly how far open your lenses "eye" is. When your lenses "eye" is very open, it lets lots of light in... but at the expense of depth of feild. Depth of feild is simply a term describing how much of the picture depth is in focus.

People use aperature priority mode to control depth of feild. The vast majority of the time when taking pictures, that's all that will need to be controled. Sometimes youll want blurred out background, like for portaits or artsy stuff, and sometimes youll want everything in clear, for landscapes and boas.. etc. When you set your camera to aperature priority a number will pop up somewhere, this is the F number. There will be a dial or button to press to move this number up and down. Raise the number as high as possible to achieve lots of depth in the picture. But watch your shutter speed, if your pictures are coming out blurred... its because the shutter speed was too low (trying to compensate for a too high F number).

Your zoom also determines depth of feild. If you are zoomed way in, it will blur background/decrease depth of feild. So thats another angle to consider. Aperature is a bit more important to pay attention to however.

As far as the sun being too direct, that shouldn't be an issue. In fact, direct sunlight is one of my preffered boa picture scenarios. If your previous camera was washing out all the shots in that scenario it has exposure issues. You can fix this by using exposure compensation. Your manual will tell you how to adjust it. It generally looks like a /- on the camera. If things are coming out too bright, compensate down (-). I get great shots outside in harsh, direct sunlight. Just make sure you are angled correctly (with the sun towards your back and facing the subject, angle yourself so you dont shadow the boa). Time of day makes a difference as well. Also understand that sometimes certain angles will create "blown" hot spots, in which cases you will have to change your position or wait until the sun is at a different slant.

A tripod is pretty much out for taking boa shots. They simply move around too quickly. I've tried it many times. One of the primary reasons I moved to an SLR is because of that, they're nearly instant when taking shots. I can capture tongue movements on cue... etc.

Some outside in direct sunlight examples:

EBV Girl you produced (I think)

Lokken Pastel

Orange Pastel

I posted a shot of a motley and jungle in one of my previous posts that were also in direct sunlight.

The best thing to do is get out and mess with your camera settings. Experiment, experiment, experiment. Learn by trial and error. It takes time.

Another thing to understand that getting the shots is just half the battle. Post processing (cropping, white balance calibration, sharpening, etc) plays a crucial role too!

Anytime you run into specific problems / questions. Let me know and I'll try and steer you in the right direction.
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Take Care,

-Ryan Homsey

www.topnotchboas.com

I will have to get back out there and try again with my new camera. It allows me to adjust settings much more so than my old camera, perhaps the results will be different. Too, the weather is cooling some, though only briefly, but the end of November should see better temps. Too bad I'm sick right now, or I'd take advantage of the cold front (by cold, I mean between 70-80). Can't bare going outside to take pictures in 90 degrees...I melt too quickly.

Also, do you know how it would effect my pictures if I used a bounce flash not created for my camera? Would it be able to communicate with my camera at all?
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Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...

To the best of my ability at reading skins, it was female. She and a female Brachypelma Smithi went to a spider enthusiest/breeder when they were about palm-sized adults. My daughter lost interest when she got her boyfriend. They were hers, not mine..
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Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...

n/p

was actually very surprised at how crisp they came out. I've been having focus issues with my new camera and never know which part of the photo will be in focus...even if I think I've lined up the part I want to focus on in the middle of the viewfinder. I hope to eventually get a similar shot of the eye, but head on. Of course, that will only be after a lot more practice, experimenting, and investing in a nice bounce flash.
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Delusions of Grandeur feed the EGO...