Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Taking some pics the other day and thought I would share a couple. So here are a ghost california king and a baja california king. I have not seen any of either posted in a while so thought I would remind everyone that cali kings still exist. Still need better pics of the baja but they just won't sit still. But I guess this will do for now.

Both managed to bite me a few times which makes me want to change the name of "picture day" to "let's see who can bite Matt the most times day". Hell even 3 corns bit me that day!! First time the ghost has ever bit me.... wish I could say the same about the baja.

Those are GORGEOUS.....Thanks for posting them......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

I've never seen such a nice ghost!!
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Diego

SWCHR

wow those are really nice, love the baja,,,,,,,,,thomas davis
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

That Baja is Gorgeous! Ghost is nice too! Excellent photos to! Are they done in natural light without flash in a white box? i have a few snakes i can't quit get the true colors of, i'd really like to "steal" your method!

~ZF

I know what you mean......I can't seem to draw out ANY color in these particular things no matter how hard I try.

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Jerry Kruse

And God said, "Let there be zonata subspecies for all to ponder..."

Yeah, might as well be a sorry ol' black & white photo for that bland looking specimen..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

They are done in a light box with flash. The secret is to expose using low contrast lighting, then either use high contrast film, the high contrast settings on your digital camera, or boost the contrast post production. Outside light is nice, but it is either in the shade and tends to look too cold (blueish cast), or in full sun and way to contrasty. On the right day field pics look really nice, on others... not so much.

It's not too hard to get accurate color with a digital SLR, but it is hard to make it look right online. Everone has a different monitor on different settings. I have an old desktop cpu that it set up to show an accurate preview of what a print would look like.

Man, I've taken countless thousands of snake pics, and I could not agree more with all that you said!. Different lighting conditions, different camera settings, yield TOTALLY different results. I've had to experiment big-time with all these factors, and have reached pretty good results for different situations. After a while, you sort of remember in your head what to do for different results and situations. And even THEN, things can often turn to crap unexpectedly..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

Best pieces of advise are to take lots of pictures, and even more notes. Then you can easily see what works and what doesn't. You'll learn way faster this way. If your like me and hate to take notes while out photographing herps you can always set up times to do note taking sessions. Pic out a nice calm specimen and look for different situations and try different things. Full sun, shadows, overcast day, with and without fill flash, so on and so on. Take notes so later you can look at your images and what you did to get the image.

I've done all those things you mentioned as well..LOL!

thanks!, ~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

I think on overcast days I get the best looking field pics......

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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Awesome John!, I especially like the middle closeup of the garter snake bro!, very book-worthy indeed!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

~ZF

Nice looking kings. Its a real treat to see the Nitida morph.
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Two great looking animal's there man!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com